FOREST GARDEN FACILITATOR’S GUIDE English-Anglaise Acknowledgments The Forest Garden Approach was developed by the team at Trees for the Future, drawing on 27 years of experience working at the grassroots level. The technical content referenced in this Facilitator’s Guide was funded and developed by Trees for the Future staff drawing on our own training resources and the experience, knowledge and technical resources from several partners, including the United States Peace Corps, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), ACDI/VOCA, the TOPS Permagarden Technical Manual, the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), and the New Zealand Digital Library. This Facilitator’s Guide was made possible by a grant from The Technical and Operational Performance Support (TOPS) Program. The TOPS Small Grants Program Improvement Award (PIA) is made possible by the generous support and contribution of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of the materials produced through the PIAs do not necessarily reflect the views of TOPS, USAID, or the U.S. Government. Extend your learning online at trees.org/training where you can access the latest resources, interact with the community and earn your certification. i Introduction Trees for the Future is dedicated to ending extreme hunger and poverty across Sub-Saharan Africa by revitalizing degraded lands using the Forest Garden Approach. The Forest Garden Approach, developed by Trees for the Future, diversifies farming systems with trees and food crops that meet subsistence needs and market opportunities. While conventional agriculture programs focus on one or few crops, the Forest Garden Approach is rooted in diversifying each farm with many food crops and thousands of trees so farming families will be self-sufficient in their production of food, timber and non-timber forest products. What is the Facilitator’s Guide? The Facilitator’s Guide is designed for use in conjunction with the Technical Manual and Farmer’s Workbook to provide both facilitators and farmers with the resources and guidance needed to pursue the Forest Garden Approach within a four-year curriculum. Who should use the Facilitator’s Guide? Trainers, extension workers, specialists, and individuals interested in working with farmers to implement agroforestry techniques that increase both their income and food security in a restorative way. Why should this Facilitator’s Guide be used? By guiding massive numbers of subsistence farmers through the phases of protecting, diversifying and optimizing their farms, we can have a permanent impact on the lives of millions of smallholder farming families across the developing tropics struggling to survive on their degraded farms. How should this Facilitator’s Guide be used? The training modules in this Facilitator’s Guide were designed to guide farmers through the three phases of the Forest Garden Approach. In the first year, the focus is largely on growing and planting trees that protect the land. Farmers learn to design Green Walls and plant thousands of agroforestry trees around and across their field to serve many purposes. By the second year, farmers undergo training in vegetable and fruit tree production to diversify the sources of income and nutrition. By the third and fourth years, farmers learn to optimize their field by using techniques that maximize productivity on the land in a sustainable way. ii Each module in this Facilitator’s Guide has a corresponding Farmer’s Workbook section for farmers to keep records, take home activities and illustrations that will help them recall what they learned and need to do when returning home after workshops. This Facilitator’s Guide is also accompanied by the Forest Garden Technical Manual. Each module in this guide refers to the relevant chapters within the manual and provides all the technical answers behind many of the questions asked in the facilitation exercises. Please note that you will encounter annual planning and monitoring activities that Trees for the Future (TREES) uses but which may not be applicable to all communities or projects. We have labeled these as (optional for non-TREES projects). We look forward to hearing how this resource has helped you and how we can improve it. Extend your learning online at trees.org/training where you can access the latest resources, interact with the community and earn your certification. Feel free to contact us at [email protected]. -The Team at Trees for the Future iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................... i Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. ii Mobilization Meeting ............................................................................................................................. 1 Opener: Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Activity 1: Dream Field ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Forest Garden with green wall, fruit and fuel trees, and vegetables ........................... 9 Activity 2: Forest Garden System Design ................................................................................................12 Activity 3: Roles and Expectations .............................................................................................................14 Activity 4: Calendar of Events .......................................................................................................................18 Module 1: Forest Garden Design ................................................................................................... 23 Opener: Forest Garden Recall ......................................................................................................................26 Activity 1: Top View Mapping Demonstration ..................................................................................... 28 Activity 2: Small Group Mapping .................................................................................................................29 Activity 3: Forest Garden Design .................................................................................................................31 Take Home Activity 4: Design your own Forest Garden ................................................................ 34 Farmer Resource: How to Map your Forest Garden ........................................................................ 35 Evaluation Checklist for Skills Learned in Year One ....................................................................... 37 Module 2: Growing Agroforestry Seedlings ............................................................................. 39 Opener: Name That Soil ...................................................................................................................................42 Activity 1: Build a Tree Nursery ....................................................................................................................43 Activity 2: Seed Pretreatment .......................................................................................................................45 Activity 3: Sowing Seeds ...................................................................................................................................46 Activity 4: Nursery Care ....................................................................................................................................47 Debrief and Take Home Activity 5: Establish your Tree Nursery ............................................ 49 Evaluation Checklist for Skills Learned in Year One ....................................................................... 50 Module 3: Outplanting Agroforestry Seedlings ..................................................................... 52 Opener: Walk Off ..................................................................................................................................................55 Activity 1: Review Forest Garden Design ................................................................................................57 Activity 2: Use an A-frame to Find Contour Lines .............................................................................. 58 Activity 3: Where and How to Dig ...............................................................................................................59 Activity 4: Outplanting Learn-and-Teach Stations ............................................................................ 61 Activity 5: Caring for Outplanted Seedlings.......................................................................................... 62 Take Home Activity 6: Outplant your Seedlings ................................................................................ 63 Evaluation Checklist for Skills Learned in Module 3 ....................................................................... 64 Seedling Care Checklist ...................................................................................................................................65 Module 4: Permagardening for the Family .............................................................................