About
Kilimanjaro summit in morning light
Vision
We live in a special time in human history. We are the first generation which has within our hands the possibility of ending global poverty. Recent UN reports have indicated that there are over 800 million people on the planet who are hungry and live in the dire state of absolute poverty. Yet the same planet has the technology, the expertise, and the global institutions to eradicate such poverty. What perhaps is lacking is the sustained political and individual will to end this fundamental injustice.
At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 participants agreed upon 8 Millennium Development Goals to end the disgrace of such global poverty. Since then there has been a surge of activity to achieve these MDGs, as can be seen from such websites as www.millenniumcampaign.org. In 2005 the Make Poverty History campaign achieved huge public support, and the G8 Gleneagles Summit witnessed a far greater sympathy for the plight of the world’s poor. Although the population living in absolute poverty remains unacceptably high, there is a growing belief that it is in our power to eradicate global hunger and poverty within the next few decades.
Our vision is simple. We believe that humanity can achieve the first Millennium Development Goal. In 1990 1.2 billion people lived on less than $1/day, and they accounted for 28% of the population within the Developing World. Moreover, at the time of the Millennium Summit over 800 million people lived in chronic hunger. We believe that humanity, if we cooperate fully with each other, can half those figures by 2015. Furthermore, we intend to make our personal contribution to that great project. And we invite you to do the same.
Mission Statement
The first Millennium Development Goal is the reduction by half of extreme global poverty and hunger by 2015. SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS will work towards this Millennium Development Goal by the promotion of increased sustainable food production, environmental improvement and social development within those communities most challenged by poverty. Our preference is to work in communities where incomes are less than $2/day. We shall also concentrate on small-scale projects where the poor of the community have the chance to participate. As Africa South of the Sahara is the region with the greatest concentration of hunger and poverty, most of our projects will be located in that area.
Further Comment
For many people in the richer regions of the world ‘gardens’ may seem to be a strange focus for a Developing World charity. However, we are not talking about the splendidly flowered gardens of Britain which we can see regularly on our TV gardening programmes. Our focus is usually that small patch of land -often not much bigger than the larger suburban gardens in Europe- on which farmers in Africa and South Asia must grow sufficient food to support their families and also gain a small income. To satisfy such basic needs these garden plots require better water supplies for irrigation, improved soil fertility, a variety of soil conservation techniques, and better opportunities to increase family income. To move out of poverty farming communities also require safe drinking water, proper sanitation, sufficient produce for sale at a good price, as well as locally available health and education services. If such conditions were widely available in rural Africa and South Asia much of the extreme poverty and hunger of those regions would be eliminated. Thus, SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS seeks to improve gardening on such plots as a means towards the Millennium Development Goal No 1, the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.
Karibu Africa - students from Kiraeni Girls School, Tanzania
