By establishing nutritional gardens at hospitals and clinics DIG is able to institutionally address food insecurity and nutrition for the hospital’s most vulnerable clients. At the same time, the gardens are able to boost the hospitals’ reputation within the community and  their capability to provide wrap-around services to their clients.

DIG’s 2018 return to Senegal was made possible through a partnership with Rise Against Hunger, the University of Washington Senegal Research Collaboration and the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Fann. The goal of the program, titled Leveraging Agriculture to Unite Communities and Hospitals (LAUNCH), is to provide critical sustainable nutrition services for young mothers, people living with HIV, undernourished under 5-year-olds and other vulnerable groups through nutrition-sensitive agriculture as well as improving the use of essential health services in the Casamance Region.

DIG has rolled-out our core program model by first developing facility demonstration gardens at health clinics then moving deeper into the community through farming demonstration programs and home garden support.