Urban Gardening Project

Despite widespread poverty, most homes in Gadab Hasaasa include a small slate of land, be it a backyard, front yard, or communal courtyard.

Largely unused, these spaces mostly operate like open-air storage rooms, providing additional space for outdoor chores and household traffic. But what if a more strategic use of these yards could offer food access year-round?

One of the more generative routes to a sustainable food system is growing one’s own food—and we’re working to support folks in doing just that. With the Urban Gardening Project, we’ll be able to help transform yards into vegetable gardens for vulnerable families to grow some of their own food and produce.

On the Ground:

Urban gardening in Gadab Hasaasa can offer an incredible array of benefits. For one, folks will have the opportunity to access healthy food year round, harvesting fresh produce essential to the region’s cuisine (such as onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and beets) during the birraa season, and preserving food for the rest of the year.

With food scarcity on the rise, it’s also an empowering means of gaining self-sufficiency, and an invaluable resource in bettering one’s relationship with the land while (re)learning traditional, small-scale practices of agriculture and food production. Urban gardening also makes for a more efficient use of private space and, if the yield is promising, offers an opportunity to sell produce at the local market to earn an occasional income (see our Women’s Grant Program to see what this might look like).

With a bit of help and direction, folks can begin working the land to feed their families! We’re working to build a community network of folks in the region with farming and agricultural experience to lead knowledge-sharing of the basics of food production. With their support, we’ll be able to:

  • Offer community workshops and training programs

  • Provide healthy seeds and soil

  • Build raised beds (if necessary)

  • Source and provide materials for planting, irrigating, harvesting, and storing food

  • … and much more

Here’s how you can help:

In the wake of the current global food crisis, urban farming can provide a sustainable avenue to fresh, homegrown food and produce for vulnerable families in Gadab Hasaasa.

But starting an efficient urban garden, though relatively low-barrier and accessible, still entails a few costs.

Your contribution would enable empowered access to food and food security—quite literally from the ground up.