One-year pilot with three regional school gardening coordinators

School garden movement is growing

The school garden movement is growing, and more and more people are joining the mission of the School Garden Alliance as a school garden fan. By creating national awareness, bringing knowledge and networks together, and providing inspiration in terms of content, interest in school gardening is growing.

This interest also raises many questions. From supporters, schools and principals, but also from policy officers and council members. Each question has a different context, with regional opportunities and obstacles.

Regional coordinators

To provide truly effective support and maintain the momentum, there is a need for regional coordinators who can put school gardening on the local and regional agenda and who, together with the Alliance and its local partners, can address these questions.

One-year pilot

Thanks to the Jong Leren Eten programme, a one-year pilot will start in three provinces, with a regional school gardening coordinator getting to work. This coordinator will begin by analysing the number of schools that are actually gardening at school, those that are not yet doing so but would like to, and schools that need additional support to actively get started with school gardening.

The coordinators will also examine which networks exist to support school gardening and how interested municipalities are in getting involved and potentially providing financial support. Naturally, they will also look at why school gardening is already actively practised in one region, while little or nothing is happening in another.

Following the analysis, the School Garden Alliance will determine the objectives for each province that can be achieved within a year and will draw up an action plan.

The three coordinators

The three provinces where the pilots will take place are Limburg, Gelderland and Overijssel. From February onwards, the three regional coordinators—Daniek Bosch (Limburg), Wieke Bonthuis (Gelderland) and Hannelore Börger (Overijssel)—will introduce themselves one by one, along with their plans, ambitions, and local and provincial questions for input and assistance with implementation.

Learning document for other regions

After a year of pioneering, the experiences will be compiled in a learning document that other regions can benefit from. The three regional coordinators will work closely with the Jong Leren Eten brokers in their province and will be supported by Vereniging GDO on behalf of the School Garden Alliance.