The Samudāya Learning Garden Center
cultivating health and community resilience
one garden at a time
Since our visit to Nepal in 2018, front porch has worked with the Kevin Rohan Memorial Ecological Foundation (KRMEF) in Khahare to help support local community aid and development of grassroots initiatives, including COVID-19 relief services throughout 2020 and 2021.
As the ongoing pandemic has pushed more and more communities into livelihood crises and food insecurity, we began a collaborative effort with KRMEF in developing the Samudāya Learning Garden Center. This community gardening program will serve to strengthen long-term individual and community health and resilience in the rural community of Khahare.
In low-income countries like Nepal, food security is an ongoing challenge. Exacerbated by COVID-19 lockdowns, continual supply shortages have worsened multidimensional poverty in Nepal. Currently, 14.9 million people face multiple deprivations at once, with inadequate nutrition being a major driver of disrupted childhood development and chronic health issues.
Community members in the village of Khahare identified the lack of affordable food supply and insufficient opportunities for household income as their most pressing needs to ensure the health and wellbeing of their families. Several families in Khahare are single mothers with a few children to support, but the women do not have many options to provide for their household without outside assistance or social safety nets.
Samudāya is Nepali for "community."
While some of the families' needs have been met by generous donations of foodstuffs, cooking fuel, and supplemental cash for income, locally based long-term solutions need to be implemented not only for the health of the children and families, but also that of the immediate community. In the Center, community gardeners learn and apply skills needed to grow their own organic food within their village.
Community gardeners will be able to establish and maintain much needed access to fresh, healthy foods as well as gain opportunities to build a regenerative, agriculturally based livelihood beyond the subsistence farming practices that are prevalent in Nepal. Khahare women participating in leadership training will lead and manage the day-to-day activities and operations of the Center itself.
biodynamic farming at KRMEF
The Samudāya Learning Garden Center project answers the need to improve food security and implement multi-year, resilience-focused development activities in rural Nepal and is in direct support of KRMEF’s goals to create and implement environmentally responsible programs, promote and encourage sustainable community development, and empower women.
Through this community gardening initiative, front porch has the opportunity to aid KRMEF and the Khahare community by providing seed funds and implementation support for the Samudāya Learning Garden Center.
Your tax-deductible contributions move Khahare’s families towards a healthier, more enriched life. Donations received by December 31 will be matched up to $7,500 through a generous grant from the Cold Mountain Fund of RSF Social Finance in San Francisco to ensure this program’s successful launch in 2022.
Together, we can make the Center a reality.
Donate today and share our project to help amplify Khahare’s story.
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Samudāya Learning Garden Center's progress!