GHI’s program comprises four integrated components:

(1) Cooperative formation & land advocacy

(2) Inputs for community & home gardens

(3) Agriculture & nutrition training

(4) Income generation through agribusines

In the summer of 2007, Gardens for Health facilitated the transformation of 30 associations into 9 legal cooperatives to help them gain access to land. These cooperatives have been granted arable government land by the district mayor in seven different sites in the Gasabo District. The Gardens for Health program has sparked a national movement for PLWHA associations to become legally recognized cooperatives.

 

The loss of productive labor in vulnerable households caused by the HIV/AIDS epidemic can be isolating and devastating. The cooperative model permits labor sharing, allows cooperative members days of rest, and provides shares of each harvest to members that are not able to work in the field.