GIY Neighbourhoods

A place-based food growing programme to inspire and support people in neighbourhoods across the world to start their food empathy journey through the simple but powerful action of food growing. GIY Neighbourhoods, where healthy, sustainable food is accessible and affordable for all.

GIY Neighbourhoods is a place-based programme to educate, enable, inspire and connect households, communities, schools and workplaces around food growing as a climate action. Growing together, we can change behaviours, teach life skills, and deliver outcomes of health, connectedness and environmental agency. Growing also plays an important role in supporting social cohesion in our cities, towns, villages and districts, as 42% of people report increased feeling of Increasing social capital by bringing people together. Together, we can lighten our footprint on the planet, and sow the seeds of a deeper understanding of where healthy, sustainable food comes from.

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How Does It Work

GIY Neighbourhoods is a place-based programme that educates, enables, inspires and connects households, communities, schools and workplaces around food growing as a climate action.  GIY work with partner organisations to fund & deliver a targeted food growing & sustainability programme to residents, families, school children and groups within a city, neighbourhood or region.
GIY Neighbourhoods aims to grow the knowledge and capacity for food growing within participating neighbourhoods – strengthening the connection with our food system, food suppliers and producers, and food sharing initiatives:

 

  • Households, school children & community groups within the neighbourhood receive food growing materials and resources, and learn how to grow food successfully in spaces of all sizes.
  • Community growing ‘champions’ are created in each neighbourhood through courses and coaching.
  • With the support of our funding partners, grants will be available for residents, schools, clubs or other groups to set up community growing projects.
Contact us to discuss how we can partner to deliver GIY Neighbourhoods in your region, and see how we can work together to change behaviours, teach life skills, and deliver outcomes of health, connectedness and environmental agency.

"Growing can be a very solitary activity. But GIY helped us to build a community of growers who share seeds, plants, advice and produce. I have met people in my community with a shared interest who I never knew before!" 

Gareth Kelly | Inniskeen, Co Monaghan

Case Study

Through a collaboration launched in 2023, GIY will deliver food growing programmes to schools, households and communities across 8 Healthy Community areas under the Sláintecare Healthy Communities initiative. Over 50 schools will take part in GIY’s GROW at School programme, and over 1,000 homes growing and sharing through GROW it Forward.

These programmes will span from Donegal to Dublin, taking in Waterford, Kildare and Longford. We are delighted to work with the County Councils, local development officers and Healthy Communities officers in these regions to support residents to learn the skill of food growing, and to adopt healthy, sustainable behaviours in line with the Sláintecare Healthy Communities programme objective.

Programme Impact & Outcomes

  • Cultivating the lifelong skill of food growing amongst all sectors of a community.
  • Empowering neighbourhoods to create their own source of healthy, nutritious, organic food supply. (Think of the impact on food miles globally!)
  • Teaching children where their food comes from – which in turn increases the likelihood of them eating fresh fruit and vegetables. Bonus!
  • Social connection through food growing – 42% of people report increased feeling of social connection & capacity through food growing.
  • Environmental agency; families & individuals learning about the importance of a healthy, sustainable food system.

Partners

Get In Touch!

Interested in becoming a campaign partner for GIY Neighbourhoods? GIY work with national and regional partners to fund and support this programme, to increase food literacy in schools, homes, clubs, offices and communities. Work with us to help communities become more sustainable, resilient and play an active role in locally-led environmental action that supports our journey to emissions reduction and adoption of more pro-environmental behaviours by 2030. Contact us for more details on our partnership opportunities.