Unicorn Grocery, Manchester's most excellent wholefood store has donated £6,000 to IPES, the Instituto de Permacultura de El Salvador (the El Salvador Permaculture Institute). The link between IPES and Unicorn was forged in 2007, when Debbie Clark, a long standing worker-member at Unicorn Grocery attended a Manchester Permaculture event, in which Karen Inwood, the director of IPES gave a talk about the work of the Institute.

Following a visit to El Salvador, Debbie persuaded Unicorn to donate £3,000 to IPES, in 2007. This money was donanted from an ethical fund that is raised by Unicorn, by collecting a small percentage from every sale that they make.  The donation in 2007 has been capped by a further donation of £6,000, made in recent weeks. (The image above shows Debbie hard at work at Unicorn.)

The people of El Salvador face many challenges:

• The country is recovering from two civil wars;
• Cash crop exporting has destoyed the local economy;
• The country is prone to natural disasters, including earthquakes and recent hurricanes
• The calorie intake from an average meal in El Salvador fell by half in less than two years in 2007-08.

IPES have been working with people in El Slavodor, teaching permaculture design, to enable people to improve security and quality of life, through a number of measures. These include improving soil fertility, increasing food security, improving biodiversity, installing water and sanitation systems,  and developing community resiliance to climate change.

For more information click the following links:

• Unicorn Grocery
• The El Salvador Institute of Permaculture

If you have any questions about how to donate or about our links with the Permaculture Assciation (Britain), please use the PAB Contact page  or call 0845 458 1805 (0044 845 458 1805 from outside the U.K.)