Development In Gardening

Improving the Nutrition of Uniquely Vulnerable Communities through Restorative Agriculture

Location: Africa

Sponsor: Bill Westwood

Development in Gardening (DIG):  Grantee in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020

DIG has a long history of involvement with Project Redwood, extending over eight grant years.  Its mission is to improve the nutrition and food security of some of the world’s most uniquely vulnerable communities by teaching them to plant restorative gardens that improve their health, wealth, and sense of belonging.  DIG develops nutrient-dense vegetable gardens using locally available low cost and no-cost materials.  They teach present and future community leaders how to grow sustainable produce for both personal consumption and income generation.  The intent is for their ‘program graduates’ to share their knowledge and promote more garden development.

DIG was founded in 2006 by Steve Bollinger and Sarah Koch, when the two were Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal.  They saw firsthand the consequences of poor nutrition and converted a neglected lot, overgrown with weeds and strewn with garbage, into a robust garden that fed patients in the infectious disease ward of a nearby hospital. That first garden has gone on to seed many more in eleven countries, improving dozens of rural and urban communities in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America.

Over the years, as thousands have benefited from these healthful gardens, the DIG model continually improves and has added useful training programs to further extend the reach of the gardening efforts. DIG has recently focused its program to serve communities in Kenya, Uganda, and Senegal.

For more information, see: www.DIG.org/

GRANT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE

2008:   $17,875 to construct and maintain micro-gardens at an orphanage in Lesotho and also educate youth and staff on food preparation and nutrition for AIDS/HIV victims.

2009:  $24,374 to fund program expansion into Kenya, and South Africa.  

2010: $25,000 to develop a manual describing steps for constructing and maintaining gardens to answer questions volunteers and participants typically encounter

2011:  $15,000 to train teachers and gardeners as well as fund printing and distribution of garden and nutrition manuals.

2013:  $20,800 to test deployment of updated gardening methods.

2014: $18,400 to establish an agricultural training center in Uganda

2015: $18,700 to continue programming for and development of the Ugandan training center funded by Project Redwood’s 2014 grant.

2016: $25,000 to develop a new model to expand the program into 10 new communities in Haiti with the help of American farmers.

2019:  $25,000 to fund 65% of DIG’s budget to expand its Farmer Field School in Homa Bay County, Kenya, reaching 400 new farmers (80% of whom are women), directly benefiting over 2,400 people.

2020:  $30,000 to provide Safe Seed Distribution, SMS Farmer Communication Networks, and Virtual and Community-Safe Marketplaces for farmers to respond to the health, food and economic threats of COVID-19.

IMPACT

Scale-up of proven methods for developing gardens that nourish at-risk populations and generate income