Green Generation Initiative (GGI) Hands over First Permaculture Learning and Feeding Garden to Treeside Special School.
NAIROBI, Kenya, July 18 – The award-winning Green Generation Initiative (GGI) a Youth-led environmental organization based in Kenya and Internationally renown for driving and leading action on the ground on matters conservation, restoration and environmental protection has officially handed over a fully functional Permaculture Learning and Feeding Garden to Treeside Special School in Kasarani, Nairobi County.
The groundbreaking project integrates vertical hydroponic gardens, a food forest and a chicken coop, aiming to address food security, nutrition and climate education for children with special need.
The model project demonstrates how environmental solutions can simultaneously serve social and developmental needs in underserved school communities.
“We have been working on an exciting project that is especially close to our hearts, Treeside special School serves incredible children with special needs, and it brings us so much joy to see the real impact our initiative is already having”, Said Elizabeth Wathuti, Founder Green Generation Initiative.
The chicken coop is now providing over 6,000 eggs every month ensuring a reliable protein supplement for the school’s feeding program with vertical hydroponic garden, which saves up to 80 percent of water already producing harvests and at peak, will yield up to 20 kilograms of a wide variety of nutritious vegetables per day.
“This project is not just feeding children it’s teaching them climate-smart agriculture and what climate action looks like as the project will also be a learning center for others and a Center of Excellence where surrounding communities can also learn from and we aim to replicate this in 100 more schools across Kenya,” added Ms Wathuti.
Additionally, the initiative supports school income generation, with surplus eggs being sold to support operational needs with the program designed to be both sustainable and replicable offering a model for other institutions seeking integrated solutions to food and climate challenges.
“We are so grateful, we can’t explain It is beyond us the joy of seeing these children smile every time they go to that farm and look at that farm, knowing this is where our food comes from. At Treeside, we value life and education but we face challenges”, said Teacher Salome, Head Teacher, Treeside Special School.
“Meeting the nutritional needs of our learners has always been difficult due to limited funds this project has solved that problem. Thank you to the Green Generation Initiative you have done us good. Keep on improving lives”, added Teacher Salome.
The event was graced by stakeholders from government including Senator Crystal Asige the Secretary General of the Kenya Disabled Parliamentarians Association, Ministries including the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and the National Treasury, civil society organizations among other development partners.
The Treeside project will now serve as a Centre of Excellence for climate-smart agriculture education for Eco-Clubs and schools across Nairobi and beyond.
