There is more to do before one can even get on to teaching them to grow food. Gaining the confidence of the local community is the first and the toughest. Piggy backing on ERI is a great start and you can get more inputs from them as to what it takes to gain their confidence (since you would like to work in close contact with the people you want to help). Is there anything unique in your Earth Garden project that ERI is not doing right now? If yes, then why did they chose to not do it?
Another important consideration is that those dying out of hunger (people you want to help), typically do not own any land. Have you thought about means of procuring land for them (in cheap lease) to grow on? These people wake up every morning unsure if they will be able to feed themself for that day. You can not expect them to work on gardens and farms only when the produce will take a few months. How do you plan to address this issue (working on farms part time while continuing their daily wage work but then do they get enough time?).
There are a lot of background things that would need a…more dedicated effort to understand, before one can even start working on the actual project. It will be useful for you to look into these issues by doing some ground work with say homeless people here in LA, peep into their lives, learn how they think, how they can be influenced. Things will be more complex when you get yourself into a completely different culture in Nigeria but at least you will know what you are getting into.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Amarjeet. Unfortunately, the site doesn't offer enough space to go into depths for the project. To answer some of your questions: ERI is part of bigger collaboration of non-profit organizations that are working toward a common goal to increase people's quality of life in Africa. Each of these organizations offer different skills and services to help build communities i.e. one organization builds sustainable housing, another drills water in villages for a water supply and so on. My contribution to the common vision of all these organizations is to provide vegetable gardens. As far as the land is concerned, the eco-village is already being built and the land has been secured for these people. There are many methods of farming; they don't necessarily have to be large scale projects. For example, people in South Africa are building french/door gardens as well as drum gardens (small gardens that are grown in empty barrels or even car tires that are stacked up high) in the townships. The people that live in these townships are essentially …morelandless, but they have access to the land for a long period of time. Where I'm heading is that each project will need to look at all these aspects, but one cannot paint all people that live in a certain area with the same brush. There is a lot of work to do in several countries in Africa, and people will embrace this project with open arms. I have the contacts; I would like to be able to contribute a small portion of the bigger piece of the pie by helping people to grow gardens. Of course, there is an issue with landlessness, but in the interim, people are dying because they need food now--whether the gardens are temporary or not.
Thanks for taking the time to write. natalie

Brilliant! I would love to get involved and help however I can!

Sounds like a great idea Nat!

I order a lot of my seeds for a CA company thru their
webiste www.groworganic.org. I wonder if they would be
willing to contribute to you project. Then again, I
guess you would need seeds and garden minds geared
towards the soil needs of the community inwhich you
will implement the project.

I love to garden. Let me know if I can do anything to
support you or your project. My company has a donation
matching project. I would be happy to contribute some
of my money and theirs too!

Very cool stuff! Best wishes on winning the grant.

Warm Regards,

Sherry

Natalie - I have a friend in Zambia who owns a government and World Bank supported flower farm. Flower farms generate lots of jobs and the export directly to EU flower market so direct foreign earnings inflow. Greg used to work for the world bank and is an awesome guy. You should reach out to him for advise as I think that your idea should be supported by/ added onto these types of activities with government and WB support. I do not think it should be given for free. Sub-Saharan Africa would be PRIME target for this initiative.

Thank you Michael. This kind of feedback is certainly useful. I will look into this option and bounce it off the local community that I plan to work with in Nigeria in the near future. Thank you for your support! natalie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFLq_e-tgN0

This is an admirable idea! You have my vote.

Advice given by khanjan 

I completely agree with Amarjeet
You really need to understand the social context before you jump into this project. Maybe you have already done that - in that case, a simple website explaining the bug picture would be very helpful.

Before you teach them how to build these gardens, have you looked at what indigenous knowledge they may already have? In lot of developing countries, one of the primary challenges is irrigation. I would strongly recommend Paul Polak's book "Out of Poverty". He also has some great videos on youTube - just google up Paul Polak

What is the motivation/incentive for the people to maintain the garden? Can they make more money this way than in their traditional ways?

What equipment do you need to purchase for the garden? What is the total cost?

Advice given by khanjan 

Also, check out the NutriBusiness concept:
http://www.jneb.org/article/S1499-4046(07)00966-9/abstract

I am working with the author of the paper - Audrey Maretzki to set up a similar initiative in Tanzania - with significant value addition. Feel free to email me...

Thank you for your advice and for viewing my idea profile.

As mentioned to Amarjeet, the relationship in the village of Odi has been built since 2002. They also have a project manager on the ground in Nigeria. That is part of what is so nice about starting a pilot project there.

With regards to new communities that I plan to work with, I agree that the social context needs to be understood in order to work with the people. That is where research and volunteers on the ground in that country will come in. There is also an amazing networking ability via websites such as idealist.org

I am aware of the water crises that exist in certain countries--particularly in Africa. For this reason, I will primarily focus on areas that do have access to water and then look at ways in which water can be introduced i.e. working with other non-profits that drill water wells for example. I see the collaboration of working with other non-profits as such an exciting and necessary part of development; it's the joining of hands that allows us to achieve even gr…moreeater goals through the work that we do as individual organizations and that of working together.

Thanks for the NutriBusiness link. Pregnant women are among the largest pool of people who are affected by a lack of nutrition. The original idea of The Earth Garden Project was to work with pregnant and breast-feeding mothers. I was deeply affected by a personal experience of mine a couple of years ago. The circumstances of these women has been stirring in my consciousness ever since.

With regards to the website: I am currently building a website, but am reluctant to publish it as The Earth Garden Project has not been established as a non-profit as yet. This is something that will change over the next few weeks.

Lastly, thank you for the heads up on Paul Polak--I'll take a look.

I would love to hear more about your project.

Sincerely,

natalie carter

Advice given by khanjan 

Natalie, Here's a link to a paper that talks about lessons learnt working on an entrepreneurial project in east africa...for whatever its worth:
http://www.nciia.org/conf08/assets/pub/mehta.pdf

Thank you once again! Penn State sounds like a wonderful opportunity for students, such as myself, to get involved with sustainable projects. It's very interesting to see that Lake Victoria is mentioned; I recently saw Darwin's Nightmare and thought of ways in which the quality of life in Tanzania could be uplifted via a school, Earth Gardens and so on. The abundance of their fresh water is an extremely inviting aspect of doing work over there.
Wonderful resources. Thanks again. natalie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmlrtHdREVw

Video Title: Israel Boasts Agricultural Innovations

Advice given by inventorspot 

I loved the idea I had seen a while back to give chicklets and raising chickens, with the goal of giving away from the initial target to another family.

I think cheap livestock that can be used to provide more livestock to others in the community is a great idea.

Michelle
InventorSpot.com - #1 Advice Resource for Inventors

Thanks Michelle for taking the time to write. I too have been thinking about small/cheap live stock, namely chickens, as a way of increasing people's nutrition and income. Perhaps there is a way of getting involved with Heifer International; something I plan to explore.

I also enjoy the idea of solar ovens (which can easily be made with few materials/low cost) being part of every - micro - garden that is created. This may also offer additional income in an indirect way i.e. women do not have to spend their hours looking for firewood, but can cook "to go" food in the solar oven for people commuting to and from work etc.

There is so much to explore.

Thanks again!

natalie