In France, Transjardins relies on the garden “La Traversine” developed in 2017 on the roof of the school of Bercy in the 12th arrondissement in Paris by Designing Hope.
Designing Hope was one of the 30 winners of the Parisculteurs project, a call for projects launched by the Paris City Council to vegetate the roofs, terraces and grounds of the capital.

[Traversine], a name that symbolizes a gateway towards other cultures, as a North-South “agri-cultural” exchanges.

Located on the roof of the Bercy school, in Paris in the 12th arrondissement, this terrace, originally intended only to serve as a passage in the event of evacuation, has today been transformed into an experimental and educational garden.

Designing Hope conceived an urban vegetable garden gathering several approaches to sustainable agriculture (agro-ecology, permaculture),
already implemented by the association with children in Burkina Faso, South Africa, Swaziland, and Senegal.

By using the program “Communicating Classes” chosen by the school of Bercy, and the equipment of relay classes in Africa, the activities around La Traversine encourage the exchanges of experiences, and the activities realized around the garden.

Playful activities for children, organized in small groups during the extracurricular time in collaboration with the educational team, echoe with those carried out in the schools of the other countries.
We approach various themes: the soil, the seed, the cycles of life of a plant, the compost, the auxiliaries, the methods of culture.

We sensitize the children to the valorization of the resources of the school for the fertilization of the garden (composting of the leaves, branches of the trees of the courtyard, remains of the canteen).
Finally, we encourage them to try some plantations at home, if they have a balcony, or if they can access a garden somewhere with a family member, encouraging recycling, composting, and giving them seeds or plants, as we do in Africa.

 

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