The brief

Develop a user-friendly visual tool in Afrikaans to support water conservation efforts on local fruit and wine farms. This tool must be sophisticated enough to convey concepts like water stewardship but simple enough to be used by farmworkers without many years of formal school education.  The product will be used as a tool by farm managers, workers, agricultural extension officers and conservation officers alike to support discussions about water stewardship on farms.

The client

WWF-SA’s sustainable agriculture team

The context

There is a great risk to agricultural businesses in the face of reduced water access, especially in water-scarce South Africa. We must make wise use of what we have. Water stewardship is about taking care of something you do not own. It is a long-term journey to improve your water use, reduce water impacts and act with others on the big water issues.

The process

We brainstormed the messaging with the client. We distilled this messaging in words and by using illustrations to help the user visualise this journey in numbers plotted across the landscape.

The result

We created a visual tool (A2 size poster) that the client can use to discuss and promote water stewardship on fruit and wine farmers with different audiences, including farmworkers. The tool is also employed by WWF-SA’s partners working in the landscape, including LandCare.

Credits

Content and editing: Jorisna Bonthuys
Design, illustration and layout: Roulé le Roux

Read more about WWF-SA’s work to promote sustainable agriculture and water stewardship on fruit and wine farms here and here.

Related work:

Watervoogdyskap: Só boer jy vooruit (symposium report)