Development in Gardening
Improving the Nutrition of Uniquely Vulnerable Communities Through Restorative Agriculture
Fast Facts
Kenya, Uganda, Senegal
Bill Westwood
2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020
Health, Job Skills
How Development in Gardening (DIG) Is Making a Difference
DIG strengthens nutrition, food security, health, and resilience for vulnerable families in Africa through regenerative home and community gardens and local enterprise.
Work of DIG
- Partners with smallholder farmers, especially women, people living with HIV, and marginalized groups, to design and plant nutrient-dense vegetable gardens.
- Provides training in nutrition, agro-ecology, climate-resilient agriculture, business skills and market linkages.
- Develops toolkits and Garden and Nutrition manuals that enable local groups to replicate the model.
- Expands into new countries and scales demonstration gardens into home gardens for thousands of households.
- Measures impact on diet diversity, income from produce, cost savings, and community resilience.
Initiatives Supported by Project Redwood
2008: $17,875 to construct and maintain micro-gardens at a Lesotho orphanage.
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.
2011: $15,000 to train teachers and gardeners and 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.
2016: $25,000 to develop a new model to expand the program into 10 new communities in Haiti.
2019: $25,000 to expand the Farmer Field School in Homa Bay County, Kenya.
2020: $30,000 to provide safe seed distribution, communication networks, and virtual marketplaces in response to COVID-19.