Gardens for Life

Overview

Gardens for Life (GFL) – an international initiative run under the direction of the Eden Project in the UK – is bringing the joy of gardening and education about the origins of food to thousands of school children in India, Kenya and England. In India, in partnership with the Centre for Development Education, SFSA has funded the involvement of children from 20 schools in Mumbai and Pune. They have very little green space available, and so instead must grow vegetables in pots, old tyres and available small areas such as rooftops. The schools now have grown 10 to 12 varieties of vegetables, including tomatoes, aubergines and okra.

The students have also exchanged experiences and learning resources with schools in England (Bristol, Cornwall and Gloucestershire) and in the Rift Valley of Kenya, and have used the project as a prompt for debating on topical food issues. At a school in Mumbai, for example, students and teachers discovered that after four months of trying to grow vegetables without success, the plants were failing due to pollution from vehicle exhaust. They moved the location of the garden and set up a campaign against vehicle pollution, which made national headlines.

SFSA is also a member of the GFL steering committee, led by Eden, with the UK’s Department for International Development, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Association for Science Education, UK Department for Education and Skills and the Royal Horticultural Society. The three-year pilot ends in 2007. Plans are underway for extension of the programme to more schools in more countries.

2006 Update

Objective: Promoting sustainable development and global citizenship through local and international school garden partnerships.

GfL has captured the imagination of some 19,000 students on three continents, who use their hands-on experience in school gardens to learn a variety of subjects, like biology, art and mathematics in a global context. Nearly schools in England, Kenya and India have adopted the programme, which can be modified to meet local needs and cultures.

The curriculum was developed for both primary and secondary grades by Science Across the World, Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew and the Eden Project. Now in its third and final pilot year, many students in the project have higher self-esteem, improved academic performance and an understanding of the natural world, according to an evaluation carried out by the University of Exeter.

The Foundation sponsorship helped the school programme in India. Links to the science curriculum were strongest in India, where children grew gardens in constrained urban settings. Students were aware of how different soils and weather conditions affect plant growth. “We must know the perfect place in which the plant can get the right amounts of sunlight and shade,“ said one student.

The pilot has also proven to be a powerful tool in improving nutrition, with students in Kenya growing large quantities of maize, beans, and potatoes, which they give to the schools’ kitchens or sell locally. Students have benefited from fresher and more diverse produce and two schools have improved their kitchens.

The global context, a central theme in the project, has taught children about broader issues through the common purpose of growing food, and has given students a basis for communicating. To encourage contact, each of the schools was assigned to a cluster of 11 other schools; each exchanged information with the other schools in the cluster twice a year.

At Pune, Syngenta India helped the programme by providing horticultural training to teachers and flower and vegetable seedlings for children to plant at school. “The students”, says a teacher in Kenya, “are now more eager to hear and read about other countries. ”Gardening has also been the basis for strengthening links with parents and the community.

In England, specialists in garden design volunteered to assist the schools and harvest festivals took place, which parents attended. In India, community elders and school workers pitched in with advice and labour, and events were organized for parents and grandparents to visit the gardens. “I love gardening and I love my India,” said one student.

2005 Update

The Foundation joins Eden Project’s Gardens for Life project, a new international teaching initiative involving children on three continents. It uses the growing of food crops in school gardens as the starting point for teaching children about issues confronting the world today, including its interdependence and use of natural resources in sustainable systems.

Starting with Kenya, India and the UK, Gardens for Life is setting up a network of children and teachers, talking to each other about growing food. Today’s electronic classrooms can be truly international, enabling students to learn from each other.

By the end of 2004, the partners hope to have commitment from participating schools, to plant gardens in those schools that do not yet have them, and begin online exchanges between students. The Syngenta Foundationis proud to support the India portion of the programme. The intention is to make the curriculum available to schools everywhere.

Gardens for Life is a partnership implemented by Eden Project in association with the Syngenta Foundation, the British Government (DFID and DfES), Creative Partnerships, Global Dimension Trust, Henry Doubleday Research Association, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Royal Horticultural Society, and Association for Science Education.

In March 2004, programme partners and teachers from the schools held a conference to start planning the Garden for Life modules.