GFDD’s Community and School Garden Program Initiates Second Stage Seed Conservation Workshops

On Monday March 18, GFDD/FUNGLODE will be initiating the second stage of its Community and School Garden Program, with a Seed Conservation Workshop at the Rene Descartes School in Bani. The workshop aims to build greater capacity among school children and to provide tools that will aid in the development of self-sustainable garden systems. The subsequent seed conservation workshops will be conducted on March 19-22 at the Loyola, Babeque and Rene Descartes schools,
respectively. The workshops will be conducted by Rose Lord of the Make Gardens Not War Initiative, alongside the botanist Cristiana Cruz Minier, GFDD’s School and Community Garden Program Coordinator.

The program, which to date has provided the materials and instruction to create and maintain vegetable gardens in 12 schools and 2 community centers in Santo Domingo, Bani and Azua, continues to expand by offering schools with previously established gardens, technical workshops to
increase the students knowledge base. By teaching students and communities how to conserve seeds and create their own fertilizer through vermicomposting, we can ensure that the gardens will grow into self-sustaining systems.

The impetus to create the GFDD School and Community Garden Program arose from the interest sparked among students participating in talks, panels and workshops conducted by Rose Lord during the I Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival. Rose Lord represents the Make Gardens Not Warorganization, an initiative of the Global Coalition for Peace, which seeks to encourage the creation of vegetable gardens around the world.

The School Vegetable Gardens initiative is reflective of
DREFF’s overall mission to interact with leading figures in the environmental community and to make a difference at a grassroots level. The Festival aims to raise awareness and deepen understanding of environmental issues among Dominican audiences. At the same time, DREFF celebrates the beauty and diversity of the Dominican Republic’s natural heritage and offers insights intended to contribute to its appreciation, conservation and sustainable use. The III edition of the DR Environmental
Film Festival will take place on September 4-8, 2013.

View Presentation: English | Spanish

Related links:
http://www.dreff.org
http://www.makegardensnotwar.com