Life Gardens
In October 2023, ACTS partnered with a Canadian NGO Thrive for Good, to pilot an educational project called Life Gardens to empower communities in Uganda. Thrive for Good has been working with local communities in Kenya for over a decade to alleviate hidden hunger and poverty and has now partnered with ACTS to expand the program to more local communities in Uganda. Life Gardens strives to help the local villagers develop a new income source and improve community health and well-being.
What are Life Gardens?
Life Gardens is a series of projects equipping the communities with knowledge, simple tools, and starter seeds to grow healthy disease-fighting foods and medicinal plants to improve the nutritional composition of their diets and bring extra income. There are only a few conditions to establish a successful Life Garden: roughly 100 square feet of soil, at least six hours of daily sunshine, scarce rainfall and an initial training program for the community. Such gardening models flourish in villages, urban zones, schools, orphanages, prisons, hospitals and more.
The pilot project participants are preparing land for the garden in Irimya village, Irimya Parish, Kicuzi Sub County in Ibanda, Uganda
Why is this project so important?
Life Gardens addresses the interconnected challenges of poverty and hidden hunger, especially in the village communities. Hidden hunger, or micronutrient deficiency, refers to a form of malnutrition when a person does not receive sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals (such as zinc, iodine and iron) to sustain the normal development of children and the physical and mental functioning of adults. Even though one may be well-nourished by consuming enough calories, the lack of essential nutrients greatly reduces physical and mental well-being.
Uganda has one of the highest malnutrition rates among countries in Eastern Africa. About 30% of children under 5 years old are stunted, and only 15 percent receive an acceptable diet among children aged 6—23 months. Even with access to education, malnourished children would have difficulties studying, reducing their chances for higher income in the future. Malnourished adults are less productive, have lower earning capacity and usually cannot afford more nutritious foods. And so, hidden hunger is a significant contributor to the perpetuating poverty in many local communities.
The Life Gardens project not only reduces micronutrient deficiency, it also improves the communities’ earning capacity — the produce can be sold within and outside the community. Most of the existing projects generate, on average, up to $100 a month, and some gardens generate as much as $1,000 a month. For comparison, $100 could buy about 170lb (or 100 kg) of rice or pay for two school terms for children at a government school.
What has been done so far
This project was launched as part of ACTS’ Entrepreneurship Program designed to empower individuals in the rural communities of Isingiro and Ibanda districts. These communities have previously benefited from the ACTS WASH program, through inclusive skills training and the sharing of valuable business knowledge.
Learning theory, Irimya village
In a partnership between ACTS Uganda and Thrive for Good Organization, a 5-day community-based workshop was carried out in Irimya village, Kicuzi Sub County in Ibanda district from the 10th to the 15th of October, 2023. A total of 64 participants benefited from the training, 33 of them women.
The training introduced the concept of organic farming — a sustainable long-term solution to growing a variety of high-nutrient crops like cabbage, spinach, collard, carrots, onions, capsicum, beetroot, coriander, lettuce, radish, okra, spider herb, nightshade and amaranth.
The participants learned how:
- to improve their nutrition using organic farming methods,
- increase their household income by trading the agricultural produce from the garden for money in the local markets,
- to ensure food security in their homes using organic farming, and
- to practice the use of medicinal herbs to treat common illnesses such as malaria, cough, and diarrhoea using plants such as Artemisia and many others.
Setting up nursery beds, Irimya village
The project is expected to have a significant impact on the community.
First, it should increase the group’s income from selling the harvest — as one participant noted, “We as a group now, can venture into this life garden and make it a source of income to the group since it doesn’t require a lot of input.”
Second, it would improve the community’s health by introducing the use of medicinal plants. Then, it is projected to enhance the households’ diets by growing some of the food in their new backyard gardens. In the words of a community member, “We have only been eating a few varieties of foods. With this garden now, we can choose what to eat and when to eat it.”
Last but not least, the Gardens may strengthen community ties because the project requires members to meet regularly and work together.
Workshop closure and awarding ceremony, Irimya Village
Stay tuned for more updates on the Life Gardens collaborative project!