Concrete to Coriander
| Description | Aims to improve the health and social contact of Asian women by involving them in growing, eating and selling fruit and vegetables. |
|---|---|
| Setting | Inner City Birmingham, especially allotment sites in east and south Birmingham |
| Populationting | Asian women, and others not traditionally involved in gardening and allotments. |
| Intervention summary | Engaging Asian women in growing vegetables, learning new horticultural skills, and adopting a healthier lifestyle through improved diet and exercise. |
| Outcome Summary | Increased awareness of food and sustainability issues, changes in diet, increase in numbers of women gardening and increased uptake of allotments. |
| Startup Cost | Difficult to quantify, but for an entirely new scheme you would have to factor in staff training, the time spent in building relationships and securing a site, and the construction of raised beds at the allotment. These costs have been built into our annual cost (see below). |
| Running Cost | About £35 000-40 000 a year |
| Funding | Through Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, Primary Care Trusts and lottery grants |
| Started | 1999 |
| Ended | Ongoing |
| Location | Birmingham, England |
| Contact |
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Background
Concrete to Coriander aims to improve the health and social contact of Asian women by involving them in growing, eating and selling fruit and vegetables.
What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Low participation by Asian women in the growing of vegetables in allotments and lack of knowledge about horticulture
What local organisations are involved?
Birmingham City Council, Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust, Bangladeshi Women’s Employment Resource Centre, Garden Organic and The National Trust
How many people are running this project and who are they?
One full time Concrete to Coriander Project Officer
What local population are you targeting?
Asian women, and others not traditionally involved in gardening and allotments.
How many people are you targeting?
There are about 50 women actively involved in the project at any one time, but we aim to influence many more through their family and friends.
Interventions
What interventions are you using to address the problem?
The project has engaged a significant number of Asian women in growing vegetables, learning new horticultural skills, and adopting a healthier lifestyle through improved diet and exercise. It has been very successful in opening up the benefits of allotment gardening to Asian women, a previously under-represented group.
One of the groups, the Bangladeshi Women’s Gardening Club, manages a number of allotments, attends various workshops and training courses, and has transformed an abandoned area of a local park into a community food garden, including raised beds and a polytunnel. Some members have formed a food and catering co-operative, and regularly attend green fairs and markets.
Is the project design based on evidence? If so, please state reference.
No.
Outcome
What outcomes or planned outcomes are you measuring?
Increased awareness of food and sustainability issues, changes in diet, increase in the number of women gardening at home and increased uptake of allotments.
Do you have any outcomes or results yet? If so, what are they?
Only informally through group discussion and photographs gathered by the project officer, and put into reports to funders.
We are currently undertaking a behaviour change review for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which we hope to use to improve and promote the project.
Is your project relevant to a government target or guideline?
The project is relevant to a range of targets, in areas such as obesity, mental health and community cohesion.
Feedback
What obstacles did you have to overcome to set up this project?
Challenges have included losing key volunteers and funding, and moving participants onto fully independent gardening, all of which stretch the limited officer time available. The project needs long term funding, but this can be very difficult to find.
What have you learned about the project so far?
The project has been very successful in engaging Asian women, and particularly notable in overcoming barriers of language and culture. As well as having a significant impact on participants’ eating and physical activity, there have been clear benefits of increased social integration, rehabilitation after bereavement and mental illness, and building the confidence to enter the world of work.
What would you do differently?
Nothing