The objective of the Community Gardens is to enable sustainable health by training community members in cultivation, nutrition and livelihoods skills so they can feed themselves and their families as well as selling excess produce from backyard and community gardens.
Structure
The Community Programme consists of two components, each component consisting of four weeks in which four days of training and monitoring take place:
- Developing and maintaining home and community food and medicinal plant gardens
- Using the garden for cooking and nutrition, home health care, income generation and building sustainable relationships
Upon graduation from the programme each participant receives a Food Gardening & Nutrition qualification from Umthathi.
The following is an outline of the courses that Umthathi will be running with participating communities during 2009. This will be reviewed and evaluated on a regular basis and necessary changes or adjustments made.
Cultivation Component
Week 1: Introduction to permaculture
Soil fertility
Double digging
Inter-cropping
Planting
Organic pest control
Making and using compost
Planning and designing a garden
Linking HIV/AIDS and fresh produce - the importance of good nutrition for HIV disease and how to maintain a good nutritional status.
Week 2: Growing for Household Use and Income Generation
Planning a community garden
Planning for planting and harvesting cycles
Introduction to Agriplanner
Managing income generation as a team
Budgeting: income and expenditure
Dealing with unexpected problems
Finding outlets to sell produce
Using Agriplanner in a home garden
Week 3: Monitoring and Recap (one month after training)
Monitoring visits to the community and home gardens
Affirming successes and supporting members to address problems
Recap first two weeks of training using group work and feedback
Week 4: Monitoring and Motivation (three months after training)
Visit and monitor community and home gardens
Use problem solving and recapping where necessary
Affirm and motivate members
Sustaining a Healthy Household Component
Week 1: Cooking and Nutrition
What is nutrition?
Food groups
The function of nutrients in the body
Planning and eating a balanced diet using the home vegetable garden
Nutrition and chronic diseases
Best foods to support the immune function
Nutritional support for HIV-positive mothers and appropriate infant feeding choices
Malnutrition
Basic hygiene
Hot box and sustainable energy use when cooking
Week 2: Home Health Care
Home hygiene and care for PWA’s
Information sharing:
- Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)
- Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP),
- Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) and
- Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT)
Understanding STD’s and their impact on the home
Home herbal remedies for first aid
Assessment of strategies for health needs in the home
Responsible use of water in the home
Monitoring the garden and how it is being utilised
Week 3: Agriplanner and Business Skills
The role of entrepreneurship in home and community food gardens
Recap of Agriplanner from the previous training
Review of implementation so far
Celebrate successes and address challenges
Additional budgeting skills for the home and garden
Strategies for income generation and income savings
Monitoring the garden and how it is being utilised
Week 4: Building Sustainable Homes & Relationships
Longterm financial planning
Teamwork and leadership skills
Decision-making skills
Conflict handling skills
Understanding the links between cultivation, income generation and sustainable development
Monitoring the garden and how it is being utilised
The following shifts and changes have taken place within the Umthathi Community Garden Programme during 2008/9:
- All community based training now falls under one programme to ensure integration and sustainability (i.e. what were previously known as health and nutrition, community and backyard gardens, business skills and “self help” are being integrated into one incremental and developmental programme)
- Community based training focuses on simultaneously developing community and home (also known as backyard) gardens, rather than these being seen as separate enterprises
- Training in organic permaculture methods that enable food security should form the basis of further training such as nutrition and business skills
- Information sharing on HIV/AIDS and the importance of good nutrition in combination with appropriate medical treatment, to maintain good health for as long as possible.
