In this episode of "The All Access Podcast," Lane Kipp sits down with Milmer Martinez Vergara and Corey Chin from Plant With Purpose, a dynamic addition to All Access's portfolio. The discussion explores Plant With Purpose's innovative model to restore ecosystems and livelihoods through transformative agricultural practices. This episode unfolds how the organization’s watershed approach and dedication to impact measurement create lasting change in communities facing poverty.

Key Highlights:

• Introduction of Plant With Purpose as a faith-driven, agri-ecological organization focusing on restoring livelihoods by working with smallholder farmers.
• Explanation of the watershed model to create community coherence and sustainable change on a large scale.
• Overview of Plant With Purpose's comprehensive program combining regenerative agricultural training, savings groups, and spiritual renewal.
• Insight into Plant With Purpose's use of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for assessing impact and understanding the complexities of poverty.
• Discussion on the significant impacts measured, like a 75% reduction in MPI in the DRC within three years.
• Exploration of regenerative agriculture and its role in long-term food security and environmental restoration.

Quotes:

• "We see monitoring and evaluation as an integral component of our programming, learning as we go." – Milmer Martinez Vergara
• "The effectiveness of the work is the biggest way to propagate the work." – Milmer Martinez Vergara
• "We like using MPI because it embraces the complexity of what poverty is." – Milmer Martinez Vergara
• "Bad data is worse than no data at all." – Corey Chin