Special thanks to the staff members in the Plan International Burkina Faso office who assembled this case study, including Thaddee Mukezabatware, Marie-Noël Maffon and Elise Cannuel. Read the full report.
The Central Sahel countries — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger —have been affected by an unprecedented food crisis due to protracted conflict, the global economic crisis and the effects of climate change. In response, Plan International and its partners have implemented innovative school feeding initiatives. In a crisis context, school feeding interventions help to keep children in school, giving them good learning conditions while improving their nutritional status. Moreover, school attendance protects children against various types of rights violations, especially girls, who are more exposed to gender-based violence in times of crisis.
Read: Central Sahel Hunger Crisis Fact Sheet
The school garden initiative was implemented from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 as part of a food security and nutrition response project. The strategy included large community mobilization, with the recruitment of three local staff (including two women) to implement the school gardens’ activities. In addition, the project involved the provincial services of the Ministries of Education and Agriculture, as well as Parents and Mothers’ associations and COGES in each school. Selection criteria of the schools that participated in the project included:
- Availability of a borehole or waterpoint and a functional canteen.
- A schoolyard large enough to set up the garden (minimum of 0.25 hectares).
- Previous experience in gardening activities.
- Accessibility to ease the project’s supervision.
- Motivation and engagement of the school actors.
Key results
- 12 schools in Kaya, Boussouma and Kongoussi communes were reached.
- The schools were provided with farming tools, some adapted for children (watering cans, hoes, etc.), materials for building fences, sprayers, protective equipment and agricultural inputs (improved seeds, plant protection products, manure).
- 427 participants (students, teachers, members of parents’ and mothers’ associations) were trained in agricultural practices, harvesting techniques, post-harvest management and techniques for preserving fresh harvested products, including 212 girls/women (50 IDPs and 162 from host community) and 215 boys/men (29 IDPs and 186 from host community).
- 5,470 students in total were reached, including 2,825 girls (1,017 IDPs and 1,808 from host community) and 2,645 boys (1,010 IDPs and 1,635 from host community).
- 7 positive boreholes have been rehabilitated or constructed.
- Approximate harvest quantities:
- 3 tons of onions.
- 1 tons of cabbage.
- 1 ton of tomatoes.
- 5 tons of purple eggplant.
- 4 tons of local eggplant.
- In smaller quantities, depending on the school: potatoes, corn, onion leaves and beans leaves.
- 101 children have set up gardens at home, putting into practice what they have learned through the project:
- 49 children in the Kaya commune, including 18 girls.
- 39 children in the Boussouma commune, including 22 girls.
- 13 children in the Kongoussi commune, including three girls.
“The children are super-interested. Both girls and boys want to give their best. But at this rate, the girls are beating the record! The garden allows teachers to give practical courses in agriculture, and that will assist the children in their lives. There are children who replicate these activities at home.” — Fabienne Nikiema, agriculture animator of the project in the Centre-North region
Lessons learned
- The schools were selected on the basis of their capacity to implement school gardens and their interest. The criteria defined at the beginning of the project were extended to include private schools.
- Income from the sale of surplus has enabled parents’ associations and mothers’ associations to purchase condiments for the canteens.
- The strong involvement of parents has alleviated the burden of maintaining the gardens, and has given students the time they need to do their homework.
- Human-powered pumps can break down and can be difficult for children to use. The construction of piped water towers in each of the 12 schools would enable the children to be more independent in tending the garden and make this task less tiring.
- It would be important to monitor the impact of the school gardens on student attendance by collecting data. Even though there was an overall increase in attendance, particularly from internally displaced children, as well as an increase in presence at school until the end of the day, particularly from children living far from the school.
- Collecting data on the improvement of the children’s nutritional status would also be relevant.
- Many other schools in the Centre-North have expressed an interest in setting up school gardens. This initiative needs to be scaled up in collaboration with local partners.
Challenges
- Lack of space, the school yards often being used to build classrooms to accommodate internally displaced students.
- Limited water resources.
- Breakdowns of water pumps installed by the project, costly to repair.
- Insufficient involvement of certain parents and teachers.
- Inconsistent and inadequate food supplies deliveries by state services.
Perspective: implementation of integrated hydroponic systems in the school gardens
Integrated hydroponic systems (i.e., soil-less agriculture with poultry and fish farming methods) are an innovative technology combining gardening and poultry and fish farming that could be adapted to the Burkinabe context using locally sourced materials and integrated to the school gardens to achieve a reliable supply of fresh nutrient-dense and animal-sourced foods to feed students. An integrated hydroponic system is shaped like a pyramid with poultry cage on top, a fish basin at the base and vegetables growing on a grid all around. These systems require little space and water resources, so they could help to overcome the challenges encountered during the implementation of school gardens.
To enable Plan International Burkina Faso to design this innovative pilot project, a literature review was carried out and numerous resources were used, including those collected by Plan International Canada from various Country and National Offices, but also through testing hydroponic school gardens in Zimbabwe with the support of Plan International Germany.
Several field visits were carried out by the project’s team and feasibility has been studied, including hygiene and safety aspects. Partners have already been identified to provide technical support: the National Federation of Young Agricultural Professionals and the Nazi Boni University.
The implementation of integrated hydroponic systems in the school gardens set up in the Centre-North could:
- Improve the reliability and duration of growing fresh nutrient-rich foods to supply to school canteens.
- Increase the technical empowerment of students, parents and other education actors in managing integrated hydroponic production for school canteens.
- Support hands-on learning in nutrition education, sciences and technology, as well as the transfer of skills, among vulnerable crisis-affected boys and girls.
Read: The state of positive youth development in Ghana
For more information about Plan’s programming in the Central Sahel region, please contact Plan’s Central Sahel Response Information and Communication Coordinator Elise Cannuel at [email protected].