We have joined with the Jardin Botanico of Bogota Colombia to help develop their trainers. The project involves working with over 500 families to convert backyards into urban gardens. Allowing families to grow food to supplement their nutritional needs.
The technical staff at the Jardin Botanico are experts in horticulture, and have taught them how to grow bountiful crops, but the questions becomes what do these families do with the surplus? That is where we come in. With have developed and tested various approaches over the last 4 years in developing effective curriculum that helps improve the livelihoods and incomes of small-scale urban farmers.
In total we are training 32 trainers, that are going to implement my DYME coursebook with over 500 urban farmers in very poor neighborhoods in Bogota. We are providing continued mentoring and support as the roll out the course and hope to travel in the new year.
I am working with colleagues at Grant Thornton and Royal Bank of Canada to develop basic bookkeeping workshop, sales, and marketing workshops.