Lowveld NBG Education: Outreach Greening

The Outreach Greening Programme reaches out to schools and communities in Mpumalanga Province, establishing indigenous gardens and running horticultural workshops for educators, learners and community menbers. It is normally a three year programme.

The programme aims are to:

• establish indigenous, water-wise gardens
• encourage ecological awareness and environmental responsibility
• develop gardening skills to enable economic empowerment and local environmental action
• promote the educational value of indigenous plants and gardens
• develop partnership between communities and organisations

This programme covers schools all around the Lowveld region and with funding it can extend as far as the Highveld. Due to funding constraints we are unable to take on more schools but continue to support previous school projects.

Learners get the participatory certificates after two years of completion of workshops. Schools compete with each other for the best design and the best garden with diversity of plants. All schools receive garden equipment and those with the best gardens win books on indigenous plants.

For 2011 the programme has been initiated in 5 new schools in the Badplas area in the Gert Sibande Region (Highveld). However, there is currently no external funding to support these schools and we rely on a limited operational budget. Without funding it is impossible to run programmes for the full three years and also take in new schools. There are still a number of schools wishing to be in this programme.

Contact Details:

Contact the Education Centre
Tel: 013 - 7526504 /27 13 - 7526504
Email Xolelwa Hlalu