Greening the camps

Context

In 2017, a collective of young designers, artisans, plant lovers and social activists came together in Amman, Jordan. "We had little or no experience in urban agriculture, but our passion for urban design, human settlements and public and private green spaces pushed us forward," explains Evi Hellebaut, co-founder and designer of Greening the Camps.

The main vision of Greening the Camps is to reconnect the refugee community with their agricultural heritage, providing a low-tech solution to food insecurity and creating a small green oasis amidst the harsh reality of the camp. "We focused on engaging women and young people with small-scale interventions and workshops," explains Hellebaut.

With funding from their founding team and the help of volunteers, they launched a pilot project on the roof of "Jadal for knowledge and culture", in downtown Amman. "This experimental garden enabled us to test the installations we had designed and to gain knowledge of the materials available on the local market", explains Hellebaut.

After officially registering as a Belgian organisation in the summer of 2017, they launched a crowdfunding campaign to seek the necessary funds. Together with a local grassroots organisation, One Love, they began work in the Jerash camp to build a rooftop community farm. The One Love association helps to find families interested in setting up a farm, as well as discussing their concerns and needs in terms of production.

When choosing their sites, they always meet with the family or people concerned to ensure a fruitful collaboration. They take part in educational workshops on urban agriculture and plant care. They work on two fronts simultaneously: they build projects in Amman that generate enough income and profit to fund projects in the camps. It is important to note that the farms in Amman can vary in scale and use. They range from simple herb gardens to large urban farms set up in schools or offices. According to the beneficiaries, they provide an aesthetically pleasing recreational space that supports urban biodiversity, and act as an educational centre. By working in this way, they are able to disseminate knowledge and raise awareness in different communities, while establishing links and creating work opportunities.

The project

Greening the Camps targets refugee camps and disadvantaged communities, providing a variety of services such as psychosocial support, legal support, youth support, family support and vocational training. One such site is the Jerash camp community, known locally as the Gaza camp, the recognised Palestinian refugee camp home to over 45,000 refugees. Rooftop gardens directly address this problem by creating a green oasis where a family or community can grow their own food, relax and strengthen their connection with nature.

Empowering refugee communities…

Palestinians have a long tradition of agriculture, but the new generation has lost touch with it. By involving several generations throughout the progress of the project, an interesting dialogue and transfer of knowledge is created. The projects generally have three phases in order to fully involve the communities.

The first phase is a holistic design based on the wishes and needs of the people involved. The second phase is the development and construction of the micro-farm, which includes the installation of water-saving, collection and recycling systems, flower beds, native trees, seating and shade infrastructure. The final phase consists of in-depth training for the beneficiaries to ensure that all the knowledge and skills needed for the project to become self-sufficient in the long term are passed on.

Agrotechnical solutions…

One of the challenges they face is access to water. In Amman, the water supply is weekly, whereas the camps only have access to water every fortnight, or even once a month. In addition to the water-saving facilities designed by the association, they are looking for solutions to build a rainwater harvesting facility capable of collecting enough water in winter to supply a rooftop farm for an entire year.

This initiative sheet was produced by Marion Boulain - student at Bordeaux Sciences-Agro - January 2023

Last modification : 21 Jun 2023.