Rucore was established in 1991. The name Rucore originally stood for Rural Education Development Corporation, now the Rucore Sustainability Foundation, given our focus on rural areas and development through education and long term partnerships.
For the past 22 years Rucore has tested its sustainability thinking at various communities across South Africa, notably at Tlholego Ecovillage (outside Rustenburg in the North West Province). Tlholego is one of the earliest experimental permaculture and ecovillage communities developed in South Africa. The Ecovillage is living testimony to Rucore’s work, a growing cross-cultural community that sustains itself through food production and products, education and training, events and consulting. Two of the directors currently live there as part of the community, constantly applying their thinking at the grassroots level.
At the same time Rucore has been involved in other sustainable community projects, notably rainwater harvesting, food gardening and sanitation at Thandanani (in the Mambulu Village near Kranskop in Kwazulu Natal) for the past 15 years. In 2011 Rucore became involved in pioneering ecologically sustainable sanitation technology at Cata Village in the Eastern Cape. Rucore is currently working with emerging farmers in Skuinsdrift area to develop a Multi-purpose Centre and enterprise hub based on traditional building technologies and organic farming.