Regenerative Andean Design Institute (RADi)
RADi (Regenerative Andean Design Institute) is located within the Sacred Sueños community. Our vision is humanity living in harmony with a functioning ecosystem. The project began, before it even got it’s name, in June 2004, on a remote mountainside in southern Ecuador that had been severely degraded by repeated burning and tilling that resulted in serious soil erosion. The initial objectives of the project were to build an infrastructure and restore the soil fertility in order to sustain a small community within the Seed Camp (currently where interns and volunteers live). It is now developing a new demonstration center on another site.
Mission
- Increase soil fertility and biodiversity, making the land more productive for future generations
- Experiment with and demonstrate possible solutions for problems faced by poor Andean farmers such as degraded land, dependency on erratic weather patterns, lack of resource access (capital, education, tools, etc.)
The techniques and technologies we are currently working with to achieve our mission include: natural building, analog and agro-forestry systems, chicken tractor, greenhouses, micro terraces, contour ditches, edible forest gardens, sustainable animal management, rainwater catchment, low cost irrigation systems, intensive gardens, greywater systems, composting, passive solar energy, value added product development, etc. Volunteers and interns work with projects surrounding these techniques and technologies, and are also encouraged to develop their own projects.
We are currently offering an intensive RADi internship, as well as some training for the Farm Facilitator internship.
