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VTC teaches primary school children sustainable agriculture practices and permaculture principles
In 2021, students from Kakuma’s primary schools visited VTC to gain insights about fish farming and crop production in Kakuma. Following their visit, they requested VTC to train them so they can acquire skills to create similar crop farming gardens in their homesteads. Given that VTC aims to increase food availability in the refugee camp, we saw this as another opportunity to empower communities to combat malnutrition in the camp.
VTC created a project to promote sustainable agriculture in 4 primary schools where we trained children on various sustainable agriculture practices. Using money saved from the sale of fish from our Fishing in the Desert project we created a replicable model that has been implemented in the camp. This included a 6 months long training course that we developed using our knowledge and understanding of Permaculture principles and ethics.
In 2021, VTC ran the project at Fuji Primary School, Horseed Primary School, and Gambela Primary School, and Hope Primary School. In total more than 100 children were trained on sustainable agricultural practices and provided with farming materials including hoes, machetes, seeds, watering cans, and wheelbarrows so that they can start their own vegetable gardens.
In the same schools VTC worked with the Agriculture Junior Clubs to develop vegetable gardens in their schools. This we feel is really important as it helps us to use the power of education and communities to enable a future generation to find their own solutions to fight hunger and empower themselves. Participants in the training sessions were also encouraged to create kitchen gardens at their homesteads so they could practice the agricultural skills they gained from the training.
Since the launch of this project, 400+ children from 8 different primary schools have participated in the project. VTC aims to scale up this project and reach at least 3000 children by 2030 from all primary schools in Kakuma and Kalobeyei. Therefore we hope to train at least 400 children in primary schools each year in order to foster and encourage permaculture and sustainable agriculture practices among refugees in Kakuma and Kalobeyei.
