School Gardens in Uganda Integrate Research, Service and Cultural Knowledge Transfer
Gail R. Nonnecke, Department of Horticulture and C. Lee Burras, Department of Agronomy
Iowa State University (ISU) initiated a Uganda School Gardens Program in Fall 2005
with an on-campus recruiting campaign. Twenty-seven students applied. Six were selected
based upon their expertise, interests, achievements, and compatibility. Following acceptance
into the program, they completed orientation (Hort 495) in Spring 2006. It consisted of extensive
presentations and discussions led by the instructors, the students and guest instructors. It was
designed to insure all participants understood service-learning, were prepared to work safely
and effectively independently and in bi-national teams while in Uganda, and, critically, to infuse
international perspective and social justice at a deep level. The orientation also reviewed
school gardens in a global context by discussing where school gardens fit into the priorities of
the United Nations, Uganda and ISU. Comparable selection and orientation occurred
simultaneously at Makerere University (MU), which is ISU’s partner institution in this endeavor.
The instructors at ISU and MU exchanged information during this time.
The in-Uganda program was a four-week internship, lasting from June 2 through July 3.
As mentioned, ISU six students and two faculty members partnered with MU students (three)
and faculty (one). This group of 12 lived communally and worked in a village-level (Namasagali)
development project in the Kamuli District. A crucial component of the program was the
tremendous local expertise provided by the ISU College of Agriculture’s Center for Sustainable
Rural Livelihoods (CSRL) and a Ugandan NGO, Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns
(VEDCO). These groups’ cooperation and the selectivity in identifying the students were
designed to maximize the effectiveness of this group’s service to the local community. The
central activity of the bi-national team while in Namasagali was working with Ugandan teachers,
pupils, and community members at the Namasagali Primary School (NPS) to best develop
NPS’s school garden program. That program has multiple goals. It is an outdoor science and
agricultural learning laboratory for primary school-age children, grades P1-P7, and it provides
food to enhance a school lunch program that traditionally would provide only maize porridge, a
food that is deficient in caloric and nutritive value. The village of Namasagali and the NPS were
selected because the area and school are especially food insecure, yet the teachers and
leaders of NPS are committed to solving that problem. Activities by the ISU-MU students were
varied. They included daily teaching of agriculture classes in grades P4, P5 and P6 with the
NPS teachers. The students also mentored P7 pupils, worked in the existing school garden
plots, cleared and developed a new field for orange-colored sweet potatoes (a food crop
containing beta carotene), assisted in constructing a poultry house at the school, and visited
local farmers and families in the community. They interacted with the professionals who staff
VEDCO, traveling to VEDCO agriculture and nutrition cooperators and learning about VEDCO’s
programming in the region.
Because of the 2006 pilot program’s success, plans are underway for the continuation of
school garden initiative with the goal being to broaden service learning and research
opportunities for students and faculty. In addition to completing this pilot program in the first
year, the investigators secured funding for future years through the ISU Foundation and the
USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant Program to expand student experiential learning in
cross-cultural teams.
The project is being evaluated by assessing outcomes in students’ guided reflective
writings and final reports as well as a focus group of the ISU students. These assessments will
be completed late 2006 through early 2007. The Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture also
evaluated the program through focus group sessions. ISU students reported their experiences
through participation in the Norman Borlaug student poster competition and a university-wide
seminar on November 8. The authors of this report have given seminars on Uganda servicelearning on- and off-ISU campus and have plans to give additional presentations.