GardenAfrica Tool Kit

What GardenAfrica Does

Key Focus Areas

Sustainable Livelihoods

Environment and income generation doesn't have to be zero-sum. We are working with communities to find ways that they can develop goods and services which promote access to sustainable sources of food, medicine, water, fuel and building materials.

GardenAfrica equips communities to plant and harvest their gardens without relying on foreign aid and inputs. GardenAfrica's role is to set up the projects, train community leaders, support and capture data for 3 years and then withdraw. Each project should ideally have the capacity to grow into a small business, and support continued training within each community. Thus the gardens are sustainable in every sense of the word.

Environmental sustainability means using natural resources wisely and protecting complex ecosystems on which our survival depends. The 2005 Report noted that whilst most countries have committed to the principles of sustainable development, this has not resulted in sufficient progress to reverse the loss of the world's environmental resources. Achieving the goal will require greater attention to the plight of the poor, whose day-to-day subsistence is often directly linked to the natural resources around them. But perhaps 'sustainability' needs to be further refined, guaranteeing a high level of social, ecological, financial, and institutional sustainability.

Sustainability, both economic and environmental, is key to the success of all projects. In 1992 at the UN Earth Summit, following many years of international debate regarding trade-offs between industrial development, and problems of population growth and limited planetary resources, a broad agenda was agreed, for action both in the public and private sectors, based on the concept of 'sustainable development': that is, development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is increasingly accepted that long term success depends not only on financial performance, but also on social and environmental performance. In each project, these elements are fully integrated in the search for solutions to specific problems. Projects are therefore designed to bring tangible and sustainable benefits to each host community, and offer practical demonstrations of how GardenAfrica's developmental approach, can make a significant and valuable contribution to the main target areas of the Millennium Development Goals.