Designing Hope is involved on the ground both on food support actions for vulnerable populations in Southern Africa, and on educational gardens demonstrating sustainable farming techniques, networked within the transgarden project.
Designing Hope supports on a daily basis several nutritional programs, such as the distribution of meals to HIV-positive patients at the Piggs Peak Hospital in Swaziland since 2005, to encourage adherence to treatments, the distribution of hot meals in a Half Way House for orphans in Kwazulu Natal (South Africa) since 2006, and the supply of fresh vegetable to Bulembu Orphanage in Swaziland.
> Visit Food Security for more update on those projects
In order to provide fresh vegetables for these projects, Dessine l’Espoir has been committed since 2011 to the establishment of vegetable gardens, involving beneficiaries of its programs and demonstrating sustainable farming techniques (permaculture, agroecology, Agroforestry) targeting various audiences. These gardens have been welcomed with great enthusiasm by local communities, as these knowledges are perceived as ways to access to more balanced food at a lower cost, cultivating small surfaces with techniques saving both water and expensive and unhealthy chemicals.
Designing Hope is also committed to the “Garden Your Health” educational program, with the support of The Ivory Foundation.
The NGO has been creating educational gardens, in a hospital, in several schools, day care centers for orphans, youth centers in several African countries, which today benefit several hundred children, and raise awareness for them and their families. This approach also aims to enable families to be self-sufficient, in a context of physical fragility, poverty, and rising prices of staple foods that promote malnutrition.
The association develops pedagogical manuals for supervisors and children, according to their age range, and recipe books to encourage the consumption of vegetables from the vegetable garden combining dishes inspired by traditional recipes.
In 2016, Dessine l’Espoir launches Transjardins, a platform for exchanges between its various local initiatives. It makes it possible to create links between the different children involved in these different countries.
Visit the dedicated website bellow:
Also in 2016, the association is applying for the Parisculteurs competition launched by the City of Paris, aiming to vegetate roofs and terraces on buildings of the capital. The project of the association is chosen to create a pedagogical urban garden on the terrace of the Bercy school, near the Gare de Lyon, close to its offices. This garden is inaugurated in September 2017.