The response at Kiluvya School to the pilot phase of our school garden project in 2023 was so positive that a three-year follow-up project was launched in April this year – now at two secondary schools. Hondogo Secondary School was so enthusiastic about the school garden project at its neighboring school Kiluvya that it applied to PROBONO to participate as well. Thanks to generous support, we were able to make this happen – many thanks to the BMZ, the Carl Zeiss Fund, Hazera Seeds, the Rapunzel One World Organic Foundation, and the TOOLS FOR LIFE Foundation!

One of the first project activities was a one-week introductory course in organic farming at the training farm of our local cooperation partner Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT) in Morogoro. Here, the teachers from Hondogo Secondary School learned about various methods for testing soil quality, for example. Other topics covered in the practical training included preparing the garden plot, improving soil fertility through composting and green manure, and effectively controlling pests using biological methods.

Armed with lots of new knowledge and practical expertise, the teachers then worked together with the students and SAT trainers to create an organic garden at their school. The school garden at Kiluvya School was expanded. Both gardens were fenced in to protect them from goats and cows. Drip irrigation was also used to significantly improve the water supply. Two different drip irrigation systems are used – a very simple one that the children's families can replicate at home with little effort, and a slightly more complex one that can be used to automatically irrigate larger areas. The aim of the project is not only to improve nutrition at school, but also to ensure that the children learn as much as possible for a future career in horticulture and that they take the knowledge gained from the school garden project directly into their families and apply it there. We have also just started a school garden project at three schools in Mwanga – more on that soon.