Last updated: September 2024
The "Gardens in Schools" project (September 2021 to December 2022) aimed to establish gardens in 15 schools across four municipalities within the Communauté d'Agglomération du Centre de la Martinique (CACEM), including Fort-de-France. The goal was to provide educational and technical resources for teachers to conduct workshops on sustainable development, pollution, and agroecology. The project encouraged schools to maintain these gardens autonomously as long-term educational tools. Students were involved in greening their schools and growing their own fruits and vegetables, while teachers received three training sessions and ongoing support through the community-based "Koudmen" tradition (Ref 1; 3). The project also involved distributing 45 gardening kits to schools across the island.( 1; 2; 3). The project was led by the Ypiranga da Pastinha Popular Cultural Center (CCYPM) in collaboration with the STE2D academic mission on sustainable development education (a joint effort of the Martinican School Rectorate and CACEM). Financial support came from the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, and the Forest (DAAF) and CACEM (Ref 1; 3). The project was designed to promote sustainable development education, enable self-sustaining school gardens, and raise awareness about pollution and agroecology among students and teachers. The project supported the municipal strategy to develop urban gardens and aimed to integrate environmental education into school curriculums and it aligned with the urban gardening strategy "Jaden l’anmou," which included the municipality of Fort-de-France (Ref 1; 2; 3). (Ref 1; 2; 3)
Workshop given by the Ypiranga association
https://www.martinique.franceantilles.fr/actualite/vielocale/a-fort-de-france-des-couleurs-et-des-plantes-dans-la-cite-937315.php
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Community gardens and allotments
- Community gardens
Key challenges
- Environmental quality
- Waste management
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social interaction
- Environmental education
- Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
- Sustainable consumption
- Sustainable production
Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)
- Land use and Socio-economic change
- Agriculture/ crop production
- Health, Well-being and Social cohesion
- Disconnection from nature
- Resource Scarcity and Competition
- Food insecurity due to disruptions in food production and distribution
Key priorities
Social Justice and community
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Creation of areas for food production (community gardens, allotments), Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Protection of agroecology approaches (agroforestry & silvopastoral systems), Educational and awareness raising programs
Project objectives
1. To build capacity in schools by providing training and gardening kits so that teachers and students can create and maintain gardens based on agroecological practices for production and consumption.
2. To create gardens in 15 schools over 4 municipalities, including Fort-de-France by using (if needed) recycled materials and address waste management.
3. To provide educational and technical resources for teachers to conduct workshops on sustainable development, pollution, and agroecology that can educate children on nutrition, the environment, create awareness of contemporary problems, sustainable development and to promote the "preservation of the ecosystem and interactions between species" (Ref 3).
4. To reach wider Martinican families by encouraging shared gardens among children (Ref1; 3).
Implementation activities
The implementation of the project is divided into several steps:
-Step 1: Assessment of on-site needs and expectations:
Determining the type of land and available surface area. Considering the progress of existing school projects. Identifying all relevant stakeholders. Determining the needs in training and support for teachers (educational materials needed on sustainable development, composting, agroecological gardening techniques, selective sorting, biodiversity, etc.).
-Step 2: Delivery of the gardening kits:
In this step, the objective is to ensure that teachers can manage the garden autonomously and sustainably. Depending on the context, this requires providing several materials used for gardening.
-Step 3: Personalised support:
Agroecological support is first provided remotely to prepare the soil, create a landscaping plan, crop rotations, etc.
Then, on-site workshops are provided to help teachers and all staff actually create the vegetable garden with students. The workshops cover all the stages of creating a garden. Overall, around 315 children and 24 teachers benefited from the gardening workshops and participated in creating the gardens. (Ref. 3).
Step 4: Garden creation:
In this step 8 schools that belong to Fort-de-France have created gardens which included planting fruits, vegetables, aromatic and medicinal plants (Ref.2)
Main beneficiaries
- Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
- Citizens or community groups
- Young people and children
Governance
Management set-up
- Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Public sector institution
- Non-government organisation/civil society
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
- Dissemination of information and education
- Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
- Co-management/Joint management
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The project is co-constructed between CCYPM, and the STE2D academic mission. CCYPM is a not-for-profit offering workshops on urban gardening and agroecology and STE2D is an education for Sustainable Development program initiated by the Martinican school Rectorate, operating in the area of the intermunicipal CACEM (1).
The project is financially supported by Martinique's DAAF (Directorate of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry) and the CACEM (local government office) (Ref 3).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Yes
("The National Recovery Plan" supports shared and collective gardens, with a special fund which bolsters the growth of urban agriculture in Martinique, particularly supporting initiatives in Fort-de-France (Ref 3).
-The STE2D academic mission, a regional educational initiative by a public sector institution (Ref 3))
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(-To benefit from the money allocated for shared gardens in the National Recovery Plan. On Friday, January 29, 2021, the municipality of Fort-de-France officially presented its "shared gardens" initative or "Jaden Lanmou" (gardens of 'love'), the objective of which is to embellish the 145 'Foyalais' neighborhoods" (Ref 4). The gardens in schools project was able to "benefit from the logistics of municipal services" (Ref 2; 5).)
Type of enablers
City network or regional partnerships focused on climate change, sustainability, GI or NBS in the city, Funds, subsidies or investment for GI/NBS in the city (available for the city or provided by the city)
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Public local authority budget
- Public regional budget
- EU funds
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of land
- Provision of labour
- Provision of other services
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
- Other
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Achieved increased green space area
Economic impacts
- Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
- Achieved increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
- Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)
- Achieved increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)
- Expected increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved access to urban green space
- Achieved improved access to urban green space
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Achieved increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Health and wellbeing
- Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Achieved gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Expected improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Education
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
- Achieved increased knowledge of locals about local nature
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
- Achieved increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
- Other
Type of reported impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs
Unknown
References
1.
CENTRE DE CULTURE POPULAIRE YPIRANGA DE PASTHINA DE MARTINIQUE (n.d.). Jardin dans les écoles. Accessed on August 13, 2024, [Source link];
2.
Étienne, G. (2021). Fort-de-France aménage les espaces délaissés dans ses 145 quartiers. la1ère, Accessed on August 13, 2024, [Source link];
3.
CENTRE DE CULTURE POPULAIRE YPIRANGA DE PASTHINA DE MARTINIQUE (n.d.). PROJET JARDIN DANS LES ECOLES. Accessed on August 13, 2024, [Source link];
4.
Agri-city (2021). 120 000 euros du Plan de relance dédiés aux jardins partagés de Fort-de-France. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
5.
Ville de Fort-de-France (2021). Opération "Jaden Lanmou". Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
6.
DAAF Martinique (2022). COTALIM : réunion du 5 avril 2022. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.