The Ikamva Youth initiated various programmes during the school holidays. One such programme was a food security programme hosted by Plant the Seed Education (PTS) at Proteus Technical High School. Weskus Nuus spoke to Thomas Chevallier, Director of Plant the Seed Education to find out more.
Please tell us about Plant the Seed Education’s food security programme?
The food security programme was developed to educate pupils about implementing a food garden at their school. The programme delivery uses a facilitation approach to learning, which is central to PTS’s education philosophy and makes the pupil the centre of the education experience. The overall purpose of the workshops was to turn curiosity into awareness of the importance of food security and sustainability, and to inspire the youth of Atlantis to become change makers in their community. PTS aims ultimately to create a movement that protects and promotes the Atlantis community’s capacity to unlock the agricultural land space around them, building resilience.
What did the pupils learn from the workshops?
The workshops were successful in educating the pupils in:
.understanding the impact of the current industrial food system;
.understanding the story of food and the “packaging problem”;
.Permaculture practices and techniques;
.Composting and building healthier soils;
.Practical methods of implementing a food garden (sheet mulsching, etc);
.Economic/entrepreneurial opportunities in food systems.
How many learners were involved? And how were the learners engaged?
Sixty pupils took part in the workshop and nine workshops were held over three days.
Day 1: This workshop focused on developing the “why”. This is the most important aspect pupils need to understand and attach themselves to X without it they will struggle to buy into further education around the “what and the “how”.
The other workshops included:
.The story of food and sustainable development goals
.Food systems and sustainable agriculture
.Introduction to permeaculture.
Day 2: The second day focused on the “what”. Learners engaged with food security and sustainability on a practical, hands on and experimental level. It also included a
.Soil workshop,
.Composting workshop, and
.Food garden implementation.
Day 3: The third day focused on developing the “how”. Pupils were introduced to the key aspects of maintaining a garden. These include:
.Maintenance strategies and processes
.Community stakeholder mapping
.Entrepreneurial opportunities.
Pupils also had the opportunity to help plant a garden with lettuce, marigolds, lobelia, onion, parsley, rhagodia, dill, coriander, rocket, chervil and pansies at the school.
How sustainable is this initiative?
PTS focuses on education around food security and aims to achieve greater urgency in the pupils to help maintain the garden. The workshops are designed to help pupils understand why building a food secure future is important for their communities as well as help equip them with the basics required to sustain their efforts in maintaining the garden.
Will this be an ongoing initiative?
PTS had the opportunity to partner with Green-Cape to work on the winter school programme in Atlantis. The programme is run in conjunction with Ikamva Youth. We aim to cultivate this relationship between both organisations and run more workshops in schools around Atlantis and Mamre.
