At the Clinton Global Initiative wrap-up on Friday, ex-President Clinton made waves in the sustainable-ag world by declaring Will Allen of Milwaukee/Chicago-based based Growing Power his “hero.”

The real news was buried in the press release, though. Toward the
bottom of a listing of verbal “commitments” from NGOs and foundations,
we find this:

Growing Power commits to strengthen food security for school
children and their care givers in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Growing
Power will build a new model of local food systems to ensure adequate
nutrition in the short-term and build a long-term foundation for
competitive African human capital in the global market place.

So Growing Power will be bringing its community-based, low-input
style of agriculture to Africa—under the aegis of a group most known
for its top-down, Big Solution way of development work.

I got Erika Allen, daughter of Growing Power founder Will and leader
of the group’s Chicago operations, on the phone Monday to talk about
the announcement.

She told me that in the current phase, Growing Power is hoping to
raise $2 million to get its Africa initiative started. (The Clinton
Global Initiative doesn’t so much fund specific projects as match
funders with projects.)

Allen described the proposed initiative as a “cultural
exchange”—Growing Power reps would be learning about how food
production currently works in South Africa and Zimbabwe; looking
closely at local assets, resources, gaps, and needs. And food-system
actors from those places would visit Growing Power sites in the United
States—not just at the flagship enterprises in Milwaukee and Chicago,
but also at partner projects in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky,
Massachusetts, and Mississippi.