Empowering refugee communities with food production

The impact of resilient farming on communities motivates Greening the Camps every day, making them aware of the urgency and possibilities that lay within the scope of urban agriculture. 

Hellebaut Vocational training school - One Love; Image sourced from Greening The Camps

The main vision of Greening the Camps is to reconnect the refugee community with their farming heritage, providing a low-tech solution to food insecurity and creating a tiny green oasis amid the harsh reality of the camp. "We focused on engaging the women and youth with small scale interventions and workshops," Hellebaut explains.

With funding from their founding team alongside the help of volunteers, they started a pilot project on the roof of "Jadal for knowledge and culture" in downtown Amman. "This experimental garden allowed us to test out the designed installations and gain knowledge of the materials available in the local market", Hellebaut describes.

After officially registering as a Belgian organisation in the Summer of 2017, they launched a crowdfunding campaign to seek necessary funds. In collaboration with a local grassroots organisation, One Love, they started working in Jerash camp, to build a community rooftop farm. Hellebaut describes,  "What started as an environmental project with the intention of growing your own healthy food and activating unused rooftops for food production, evolved into a participative community project that connects social needs and brings together communities while creating local empowerment and transforming livelihoods keeping in mind all strategies of how to create liveable cities."

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Header Photo: Hellebaut Vocational training school - One Love; Image sourced from Greening The Camps

Source: Agritecture