📷 Photos by The Eden Project
In May 2019, the bold, bright and vibrant colours of Africa were brought to central London through a fantastic garden designed for the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED). This garden was part of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show – a world-renowned horticulture and flower show.
The African garden was hugely successful, winning a gold medal and the ‘People’s Choice’ award for the ‘Space to Grow’ category. And with a huge focus on sustainability, it was only right that the garden live on for more people to see. As a result, the garden has now been installed in the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK and is now available for the public to see in the Mediterranean biome.
The garden was a significant part of the launch of the CAMFED #SeeGrowth campaign which hopes to support thousands more young-women to establish climate-smart agricultural businesses and thrive.
Did you know? Women produce much of Africa’s food but still in 2019 many women struggle to access land, finance or training.
At the centre of the garden is a classroom signifying CAMFED’s work in educating some of the most excluded young women in rural sub-saharan Africa. They work to enable these girls to go to school and succeed and grow their own futures through techniques such as climate-smart agriculture. The classroom is surrounded by a huge array of edible crops which are typical to rural Zimbabwe such as papaya and bananas, as well as some biofortified crops developed with support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
Credit: The Eden Project
But climate-smart agriculture is not just about the crops. The garden showcases water-efficient growing technologies and crop rotation, both of which maximise yield from a small area. We were extremely proud to support the garden with a donation of a Futurepump SF2 solar powered irrigation pump which is now also on show at the Eden Project.
The garden will be open for approximately a year in the Mediterranean biome – make sure you look out for the garden, read the important and inspirational stories behind the design and see if you can spot our green solar pump nestled in the foliage!
A bit about CAMFED:
CAMFED, through its alumnae network called CAMA, is working to support thousands more female agricultural entrepreneurs in rural Africa. Young women learn to deploy climate-smart technologies and horticultural techniques to grow sustainable farming businesses that can support their local communities. CAMA’s pioneering work in this area was honoured with the UN Global Climate Action Award on 26 September 2019.