We are developing urban practices inspired by permaculture principles, we build sustainable social technologies with local residents.
The proposed Amenawon initiative seeks to create a socially innovative hybrid model that offers sustainable solutions by developing low-cost technologies within the educational, renewable energy, agricultural and water system sectors.
Lagos, Nigeria is the third largest city in the World. Everyday life in Lagos is characterized by lack of access to affordable potable water, open sewers and the lack of a municipal waste treatment system, daily electrical outages, and limited access to un-built space and the habit of cultivating food in the city.
The Amenawon Solar school addresses these challenges through the development of a sustainable compound in the neighborhood of Ikeja, Lagos.
Working with tenants in the building, Amenawon’s family members, and the community in Ikeja, the project will develop a rain water harvesting system
to produce potable water, a green roof that will provide open space and the opportunity to cultivate food, retrofit the building with solar panels to provide reliable electricity and replace dirty energy-based generator use.
We also seek to address the sewage problem with compound-scale solutions such as compost toilets and neighborhood-scale solutions such as filtering plants and energy production from bio waste.
Where we work
We seek to address challenges facing Lagos-dwellers through the development of a sustainable compound. Working with tenants in the compound’s building, the Amayo family, and community members in the neighbourhood of Ikeja,
the project plans to develop a rainwater harvesting system to produce potable water and a green roof that will provide open space and the opportunity to cultivate food; and retrofit the building with solar panels to provide reliable electricity and replace inefficient energy-based generator use.
Permaculture Principles
Central to our project is the cultivation of sustainable ethics, practices, skills and relationships, inspired by Permaculture design principles. The permaculture ethics of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share are guiding principles.
Earth Care means caring for the earth as a living breathing entity, People Care means maximizing quality of life for everyone, and Fair Share means recognizing that we live in times of abundance, enabling us to share with others and redistribute wealth by giving away excess. Amenawon Solar School enacts a Permaculture approach through an urban lens, adapting it to the urban environment.
