DIG’s Priority Household Program
October 26, 2022
DIG's most intensive program targets families with children under age five who have been diagnosed as malnourished.
DIG’s Farmer Field School
October 26, 2022
DIG's foundational program prioritizes uniquely marginalized people. They learn to grow nutrient-rich gardens using regenerative agriculture as a way of improving theirs and their family's nutrition, food security, and income.
Ginger Bissap Lemonade
August 2, 2022
A DIG Take on a Traditional Senegalese Recipe
Growing More Resilient Local Food Systems
November 2, 2021
When the pandemic shut down markets and restaurants, DIG farmers like Fernard and Cecile were prepared to fill in the gaps. Their gardens were no longer just reliable sources of food for their families, they became a critical resource for their entire community.
A Partnership Conversation between Rise Against Hunger & DIG
April 26, 2021
Listen in on a lunch chat between Rise Against Hunger's ED, Barry Mattson, and DIG's Founder, Sarah Koch as they talk about DIG's work in the field and the exciting partnership between the two organizations in Senegal.
When Garden Diversity Grows Opportunity
February 23, 2021
While it’s blessed with beautiful coastal beaches and a vibrant port of trade, Ziguinchor, the 5th largest city in Senegal, has some of the highest levels of poverty, chronic malnutrition and food-insecurity in all of the country. In Ziguinchor, DIG prioritizes people living with HIV (PLWHA), 90% of whom are food insecure. This means they are more likely to miss their doctors appointments and not take their antiretroviral therapy due to hunger. On top of that, malnutrition lowers CD4 cell
Back to our Roots in Senegal
November 2, 2020
DIG's first seeds were sown in Senegal over a decade ago. Now, we're back, and we've seen those first seeds grow into leaders, businesses, and thriving communities. Learn how DIG continues to adapt the program to serve some of the world's most uniquely vulnerable people. See how they are not only finding household resilience but are contributing to their broader communities as well.
Adapting for Growth
August 4, 2020
In Senegal, DIG is adapting it's program to serve students who are blind, visually impaired and hearing impaired, and the students have cultivated more than we dreamed.
MetroFresh’s 2020 DIG Garden ~ Ziguinchor, Senegal
June 30, 2020
In 2019 at a DIG Cocktails and Castoffs event, MetroFresh, a local Atlanta restaurant, encouraged their community to help sponsor a DIG garden in Senegal. They have previously sponsored a garden in Kenya and Uganda and this year they wanted to spread the seeds of transformation in Senegal. Their support has sustainably equipped 13 uniquely vulnerable families in the city of Ziguinchor, Senegal to become food secure, nutritionally rich, climate resilient, and economically secure. Here are some of the stories
Transitioning field schools to safe, socially distanced learning environments using the FAO’s Farmer Field School COVID Recommendations
June 16, 2020
In the Casamance region of Senegal, lies the second biggest city, Ziguinchor. Plagued with arid soils and an inescapably long dry season, the region largely relies on an import-based food system for a majority of their needs, including fruits and vegetables. With COVID-19 disrupting critical food distribution systems, DIG’s farmer field school network has been ramping up production to fill in the gaps. In 2019, Development in Gardening, with support from Rise Against Hunger, The University of Washington Senegal Research
Saphietu – First Time Gardener
June 4, 2020
I want to introduce you to one of the amazing women in our LAUNCH Program in Senegal, Saphiatu. Saphiatu lives in Ziguinchor. She and her husband have never held a formal job. He makes money doing odd jobs primarily around electrical work when he can find it. When money really gets desperate Saphiatu mixes a homemade bleach solution to sell in the local market. They have a 15-year-old daughter and they are also shouldering the burden of caring for their
Why Home Gardens are Important!
December 2, 2014
DIG first started doing home gardens in 2006 thanks to Koumba! While Koumba was being inspired by DIG’s training, we were being inspired by her. It was she who asked for and received DIG’s first Home Garden. She asked if we could help her with some of the initial seed money to get a garden started in the small space behind her home. Koumba knew she could feed her family from this otherwise discarded space and would use her