EWA South Africa - Community Gardens
"We are not just growing food but growing people. We are not only giving people a plate of food, but more valuable than this; we are empowering people to help themselves."
01.04.2013 | WICF Project
| Countries: | South Africa |
| Donors: | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands |
| Partners: | Soil for Life, Urban Harvest, Decentralized Environmental Solutions |
| Issues: | Biodiversity & Food; Gender & Rights |
| Duration: | 01/2012 - 12/2015 |
Furthermore, people living in urban areas have lost most of the knowledge on (small-scale) agriculture, biodiversity and sustainability – In the global South equally as in the global North. There is no space available fit for learning those things. And this is where WECF comes in.
Our goal:
We want to work against this development and raise awareness for everyone’s own abilities by implementing school- and community-gardens in the province Western Cape. With our local partners Urban Harvest, Soil for Life and Decentralised Environmental Solutions we have found the perfect organization to implement the project in a practical and playful manner. Not only the nutrition is improved, but also the self-esteem and social consciousness is raised. Also, in the medium term, our training of trainers enables the community to build their own community gardens without our external support. In the long run, we are thus trying to create a self-reliant community-network on producing food for its own consumption and trade.
Developing Urban Food Gardens
In 2012, WECF supported partners in South Africa to develop “urban food gardens” with and for low-income women in former townships. These included the ecological treatment of surface water for irrigation, and the reuse of nutrients and waste for biogas (in community food kitchens) and soil improvement. Community food gardens have been set up in Blikkiesdorp and Lavender Hill, South Africa. The food gardens will provide an opportunity to empower women to provide more nutrition for themselves and their families and gain income from selling surplus food.
The peri-urban areas of Blikkiesdorp and Lavender Hill have some of the highest poverty and malnutrition rates in South Africa. Therefore, WECF has committed to breaking the vicious circle of malnutrition, hunger and poverty. Together with the local partners Urban Harvest, Soil for Life, and Decentralised Environmental Solutions, the Food Garden has been created. The food garden in Blikkiesdorp is located centrally, just next to a communal Multi Purpose Centre. This ensures that many people will pass by and experience the change of atmosphere a patch of green can make. The food grown in the garden will be used directly for a street pop-up restaurant or will be sold wholesale to various food vendors on-site and simplify trading. Circumventing complicated bureaucratic structures and costly intermediary vendors, profit margins will be high for the people selling the food produce.
Related News
“The food garden enables me to give something back to my family and my community”
Personal story of Nokuphumla Sipayise who benefits from the food garden
01.12.2014
How Gender and Sustainable Gardening are linked in South-Africa
An update for 2014 on the EWA programme in South-Africa
18.09.2014 | WECF
What happened in 2013 in our Food Gardens?
Stories from South Africa
11.08.2014
Empowering women and men with organic agriculture & gender trainings in Cape Town
WECFs 'Empower Women – Benefit for All' (EWA) programme is to contribute to economic and political empowerment of women from low-income rural and peri-urban regions in six countries, including South Africa
26.09.2013 | Annemarie Mohr
Food Garden Project in Blikkiesdorp and Lavender Hill
Food Garden to battle poverty, malnutrition, and providing opportunities participating in the community
28.05.2013 | WECF
