'Food, Beekeeping & Social Justice' - Bringing it together

This year’s Green Match Fund campaign theme was ‘Food, Beekeeping & Social Justice’. Food production is at the intersection of the local and global environment and the day-to-day livelihoods of the communities we work with, facing the effects of climate change. Sustainable farming and beekeeping can help support the local environment while enabling communities to achieve a better quality of life. A win-win is possible for people and planet.

With so much going on, we wanted to bring it all together here, provide links to things you might have missed and hopefully get you excited about what we’re up to next.

Thank you! £10,000 for beekeeping communities

An enormous thank you to the 63 people who helped us reach our fundraising target and to all those who provided support and followed along with the campaign.

We raised an incredible £5,000 in donations, which was then doubled to a whopping £10,000 by the Big Give. This means we can now help more communities achieve more reliable and sustainable livelihoods, with beekeeping and this will change lives for the better.

We couldn’t do any of this without your kindness and generosity, so from the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

'Food, Beekeeping & Social Justice' Stories

Every week of the campaign we shared a new story on the theme of Beekeeping, Food & Social Justice. The articles cover stories from around Bees Abroad on how communities are empowering themselves though sustainable beekeeping and food production. The successes of these beekeeping projects are only possible through the generosity of our donors and supporters. The communities are the change makers, supporters like you are the enablers.

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Informative and Inspiring Online Events

We ran three special online events to celebrate the theme of ‘Food, Beekeeping & Social Justice’. Two of the events are available on our YouTube channel.

Event 1: Sustainable Beekeeping, Food and Social Justice

Special guests Sarah Wyndham Lewis and Shane Holland shared their experiences with sustainable beekeeping, food production and social justice.

Sarah and Shane’s event picked off the campaign with an introduction to the main themes of sustainable beekeeping, sustainable food production and social justice including stories from communities they’ve worked with. Sarah shared an inspiring story on beekeeping in Copenhagen and Shane spoke about Slow Food in the UK and some of the projects they run, including working with some of the most underserved communities in the U.K. 

Event 2: Slow Food, Slow Beekeeping?

This event offered a unique opportunity working on Slow Food and beekeeping in Nigeria. This event included six speakers from across Bees Abroad communities in Nigeria.

Dr Modupe shared her story on founding the Emerald Forest Farm: restoring nature through organic farming and sustainable beekeeping. Elijah Asade, spokesperson for Abotokio Slow Food Beekeeping Community, shared how they are advocating for sustainable beekeeping including integrating it in to local school curricula.

Watch the event on YouTube to hear their full stories and hear from the other four speakers.

Supporter spotlight

We asked some of our supporters who donated to the Green Match Fund to share a few words with us..

Anthony

“I was glad to help your beekeeping cause with a donation. Your organization is doing great work especially by advancing beekeeping training to others. It is a noble cause. To reflect the giving mood I was in when made my donation I feel the attached picture sums it up. Thank you again for having offered your programs on your organization – I always enjoyed tuning in.”

Nadia

“It’s great news that BA have reached their target.

Why do I support BA: I like to invest my effort in every activity which I deem sustainable, and Bees Abroad is one of them: sustainable environmentally and financially.

Moreover, the team of volunteers is very good company!”

Catherine

“I found out about Bees Abroad though the BBKA magazine. Bees Abroad were advertising a zoom lecture on two bee related subjects.

Since then I have received emails with the amazing work that the charity does for community’s and inspirational individuals though beekeeping.

Beekeeping has given me a lot in various ways and I can only hope that by supporting Bees Abroad this will give others the help and support they need to become successful beekeepers and importantly leading to a sustainable livelihood.”