Helping Africa Help Itself

MICHELLE LALONDE of the Montreal Gazette recently reported a story illuminating the works of Carole Robert and her initiatives to develop sustainable growth in Africa.

Carole Robert, a successful business woman, recently won an international award for her program to help poor African farmers learn to sustainably cultivate and market medicinal plants. Her main objective was to help Africa become a sustainable place where it can grow independently of international aid. While her methods promote interdependency and alignment to international standards of growth, she places an emphasis on education.

In the first year of training, “the “ecopreneurs-in-training,” as Robert calls them, learn about sustainable cultivation practices in the industrial production of medicinal plants. The students will learn to grow plants such as moringa or neem trees to international standards of quality control. They will have access to a phytochemistry laboratory, built and financed by a local Jesuit group.”