Malmö, Sweden
City population: 306502
Duration: 2014 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level, Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Other
Last updated: April 2026

Organic Without Borders (OWB) is an NGO (ideell förening) that works to develop and support methods for a sustainable future anywhere in the world. The NGO develops methods through socio-ecological city farming and working pedagogically with children and adults and their relationship to food and farming in Sweden and other countries (ref.1).

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Allotments
  • Community gardens
  • Nature on buildings (external)
  • Green walls or facades
  • Balcony greens

Key challenges

  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Enabling opportunities for physical activity
  • Improving physical health
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Social cohesion
  • Social justice and equity
  • Social interaction
  • Environmental education
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable consumption
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Project objectives

The overall goal of Organic Without Borders is to develop and support methods for a sustainable future anywhere in the world (i.e. Sweden and in other countries). This is done through methods developed for socio-ecological city farming, and working pedagogically with children and adults, and their relationship with food and farming (ref. 1). Children in the city project aimed to develop and use new models for meetings, collaboration, dialogue and community in socially vulnerable areas. (Ref 8) Aims of projects such as 'Eat Your Wall' (which is part of a food and farming program offered to three schools in Malmö, by OWB and Malmö Museer) have been to inspire on how to grow eatable plants in small spaces in the city (e.g. balcony). The purpose is to increase the interest and knowledge about gardening and where food comes from. (ref. 3)

Implementation activities

Regarding the "Eat Your Wall" project, the program meets with the same class during two occasions during the year (in the spring the kids are planting their eatable walls and sowing their own little vegetable plot. The next time the program meets the class is in September to harvest and cook food together). (Ref. 3) For the project the plants are planted by pupils in Malmö, grade 3-6 (as a part of a food and farming program that Organic Without Borders and Malmö Museer are offering three schools in Malmö). (Ref. 3) The organization also sells vegetable plants, growing hangers for the balcony in order to raise money for the Education for Life fundraiser" (ref. 3). Pedagogical activities in The Outdoor Classroom (ref. 4): A corner with plants that attract to pollination Two beehives that every year are producing our nice honey (also used for medicinal purposes) A big food compost where the café next door are dumping their organic waste Insect hotel With the help of MKB, an oriental garden was built in 2010 when it excavated asphalt and added new topsoil and organic vegetable soil and built passages (ref. 8) Creation of eatable green wall, also have an exibition at Malmö Garden Show, with stories written by children in Malmö that participate in the program From Earth to Table (Från Jord till Bord). (Ref. 3)

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups
  • Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)
  • Young people and children
  • Marginalized groups: Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, Other

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Non-government organisation/civil society

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

Organic Without Borders (OWB) is an NGO (ideell förening) that work with projects in Sweden and other countries. (Ref. 1) E.g. the project "Eat Your Wall" was in collaboration with Malmö Museer, and with Werners Kockgymnasium (regarding harvesting and cooking the food which was produced). (Ref. 3). The main focus of the project has been on the cultivation of a relationship between children and young people with an immigrant background and older people in Malmö. The project has helped to counteract mutual prejudice, suspicion and xenophobia. The goal was to create long-term relationships and a dialogue between people from different backgrounds and at different ages (ref. 8) Partners included are: Akitekter Utan Gränser; Folkets Park, Malmö Museer, Miljöförvaltningen (Malmö stad), BAS (Nepal), Swakopmond municipality (Namibia), Cape Town municipality (South Africa), Lalibela municipality (Ethiopia), and Ethiopian Historic Heritage Conservation & Development Association. (Ref. 7)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget
  • Private Foundation/Trust
  • Other

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Environmental quality
  • Improved soil quality
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased number of species present
  • Enhanced support of pollination
  • Increased spread of native/heirloom/open-pollinated seed
  • Restoration of derelict areas

Economic impacts

  • Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Fair distribution of social, environmental and economic benefits of the NBS project
  • Improved access to urban green space
  • Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples
  • Increased access to healthy/affordable food
  • Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
  • Cultural heritage and sense of place
  • Promotion of cultural diversity
  • Education
  • Increased support for education and scientific research
  • Other

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Organic Without Borders. (n.d.) Organic Without Borders (OWB). Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
2. Ratsit. (2017). Organic Without Borders, nr 802490-7530. Företag. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
3. Organic Without Borders. (n.d.) Malmö Garden Show, 2015, 2016, 2017. OWB. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
4. Organic Without Borders. (n.d.) Uteklassrummet (The Outdoor Classroom). OWB. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
5. Malmö Stad. (2020). Stadsodling. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
6. Organic Without Borders. (n.d.) Pre-study Urban Gardening Cape Town. OWB. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
7. Organic Without Borders. (n.d.) Partners. Collaborators, Financiers, OWB. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
8. Odlaistan. (n.d.) Barn i stan. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)
9. Hållbara Stad. (2015). I pallkragarna odlar vi relationer. Omvärld. Available at: Source link (Accessed 6 August 2020)