Urban vegetable gardens
NGO CITIES WITHOUT HUNGER
ABOUT IT
The organization CIDADES SEM FOME (Cities Without Hunger) is an NGO that develops sustainable agriculture projects based on the principles of organic production. Its purpose is to bring financial and management self-sufficiency to projects beneficiaries.
Since 2004, the NGO’s main project has been the development of Urban Garden projects using public and private spaces and areas that lack a specific destination in order to create work opportunities for people in social vulnerability and to improve the access to food and nutrition of children and adults.
The use of available or underused urban spaces, through the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and medicinal plants, is a future trend that goes beyond pioneering initiatives in schoolyards or day care centers. Agriculture is one of the main economic vocations of many urban and metropolitan peripheral spaces. Urban gardens are uniquely qualified to generate labor and income and to allow the creation of sustainable jobs at relatively low costs.
The project is still being executed
The urban gardens project received the following awards and recognitions:
2021 - St Andrews Prize for the Environment 2021- Scotland/UK
2020 - Famae Food for Good Challenge/Roquette Foundation for Health - France
2019 - UBS Bank Visionaris Award - Switzerland
2018: JUVE German Commercial Law Firms Prize (Germany)
2018: Hackaton Weber Shandwick - USA
2017 – Volkswagen Community Award – Volkswagen Foudation – São Paulo
2016 - Trip Transformers Award - Trip Magazine – São Paulo
2015 - Best of the Year Award - Prazeres da Mesa magazine/Cacau Show - São Paulo.
2014 - Milton Santos Award - São Paulo City Council
2013 - Ashoka Social Entrepreneur - Ashoka Brasil
2011 - FINEP Social Innovation Award - Ministry of Science and Technology - Brasília/DF
2010 - Dubai International Award for Best Practices - United Nations Organization/Government of Dubai
2009 - AEA Environmental Award - Automotive Engineering Association/SP
Results and Objectives
To date, the project has already implemented urban gardens responsible for the revitalization of the following urban spaces:
São Paulo – 60.000 square meters
Cubatão – 10.000 square meters
Porto Alegre – 6.000 square meters
Other results achieved include:
- •Improving the management of public and/or private spaces, providing them with environmental applications;
- • Replacing vacant lands with green and productive areas;
- •Using exposed soil, subject to the influence of erosive processes;
- •Using areas to reduce waste deposits and the proliferation of insects and rodents.
- • Increasing groundwater reserves due to the greater infiltration of rainwater;
- •Collection and use of organic leftovers for the production of organic compost;
- •Allowing the creation of spaces for the return of biodiversity agents such as birds, butterflies, bees, etc.
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