About

Since partnering with ZET, Foundations for Farming has worked closely with ten schools. Together, we identify vulnerable schools in and around Harare. We work with them by providing training and educational resources, such as crops and gardening tools, to teachers and young Zimbabweans. The skills they acquire and the equipment provided are rolled out to the whole school; they are used to develop their own nutritional gardens, agro-businesses and agricultural curriculum. This provides the schools and their wider communities with food to feed themselves, a source of income to fund the school budget and support children in need, and an enhanced skillset to improve their employment prospects. The methods taught by Foundations for Farming can produce four times higher crop yield; this is significant in a context of food shortages and where one in three children suffers from chronic malnutrition, with less than one in ten receiving the globally defined minimum acceptable diet for their age.

What we do:

Foundations for Farming Enables schools to feed their students and provides an invaluable educational resource. Equipping schools with the resources they need to develop their own nutritional garden offers a beacon of hope to these young people living in communities with high levels of poverty and malnutrition. One of the schools we worked with outside Harare who used the project to develop a nutritional garden was able to give all pupils one free meal a day and other nutritional supplements. On top of this, the teachers reported that this improved the students’ health, attention span, educational performance and overall wellbeing. In this way, our method acts as a positive multiplier. As another an example, another school was struggling with large class sizes and a lack of resources. After the project, they had such a successful garden that they were able to sell excess crops to fund school resources.

Foundations for Farming equips students with vital practical and vocational skills. With Foundations for Farming’s project, young people develop the skills to lift themselves out of poverty. Learning about more efficient food production enables these young people to help feed themselves and their families, meaning more food for local communities. It also gives them the capacity to sell their increased produce. Given that the schools we work with are located in particularly run-down and impoverished areas, this project provides a vital source of income. Acquiring these skills leads to improved employability for students, safeguarding their future.

Foundations for Farming also Adopts a multifaceted approach to sustainable development. The training and resources provided to teachers ensures that they can continue the project for cohorts to come over many years after our initial support. Secondly, the project deploys farming practices that ensure efficient and sustainable crop production whilst simultaneously producing maximum crop yield. It places emphasis on stewardship and responsible use of the land to make sure that all agricultural development aligns with the wider environment and can be maintained long-term.

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