The Harvest Way
This is a charitable agricultural project established in 2023 in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
It is a project to develop and support local vegetable growing, which will contribute to food security and support people in communities. This is an opportunity for those who have small gardens or a few beds near their homes and are interested in learning how to use them effectively to support their families. The Urozhaynyi Shlyakh project provides mentoring from experts and targeted financial assistance.
The project involves 5 communities: Bar, Stryi, Novoyavorivsk, Voznesensk, and Boyarka.
Stages of activity:
- Conducting educational trainings
Each training will be implemented at the request of the beneficiaries, taking into account the specifics of the region (e.g., gardening, cultivation, organic farming, etc.) This is a place to share experiences, knowledge, and discover something new for future improvement of efficiency in growing their own crops.
- Providing targeted financial assistance for agricultural activities.
After the trainings and gaining new knowledge, we want to support our participants' aspirations for development in practice. We trust the experience of our participants, so the funds will be spent depending on their needs and at their own discretion. For truly effective and targeted use.
Important! Any adult resident of the selected communities can participate in the competition for targeted financial assistance. Attending trainings increases the chance of receiving financial support.
Funds from targeted financial assistance can be spent on things related to gardening: greenhouses, processing equipment, machinery, fertilizers, seeds and seedlings, vertical gardening, etc. However, it does not include expenses for things related to: large-scale argo enterprises, animal husbandry, beekeeping, and the purchase of components that have nothing to do with improving the results of work on your own plot.
When using financial assistance, you will need to sign an agreement on the receipt of funds within a month after the receipt of funds, use them in full and be sure to provide documents (receipts) confirming the costs.
We also encourage all participants who decide to organize themselves into a group to pool their financial assistance and create a single, joint project. For example, if you are not members of the same household and join a group of 5 people to build one greenhouse. In this case, the chances of receiving targeted financial assistance increase.
- Cooperation with local businesses.
We want the project to bring long-term results, not just spot improvements. Therefore, our team will engage local entrepreneurs who are willing to cooperate with the community. That is, households can grow raw materials (vegetables, fruits, herbs) that businesses can buy and use for their own production. This is a mutually beneficial cooperation, where people find an additional source of income, and the entrepreneur is confident that he can cover his needs for raw materials, potentially increasing profits. Ultimately, we get more taxes to the budget for community development.
- Food security policy.
The world is developing at a rapid pace. Every day, we are making more and more efforts to be in the context of the present. Against this backdrop, we forget the foundation of our society - food, as the 'grain crisis', as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion, reminded us.
One of our main goals is to work with the city authorities to create a food security program that takes into account the aspects and needs of each community to create a plan with concrete steps for implementation.
For example, soil analysis, financial support, trainings, creation of shared greenhouses, conversion of cellars into grain storage, etc. The aim is to ensure that after the project is over, people have state support, understand what they can apply for if necessary, and have a strategy to support the population in case of a food crisis.
PARTICIPATING COMMUNITIES
"The Harvest Way operates on the basis of community foundations that have been working in their communities for many years:
- Community Foundation "Ridnya", Stryi, Lviv oblast.
- Bari Community Foundation, Bar, Vinnytsia region.
- Voznesensk Community Foundation, Voznesensk, Mykolaiv region
- NGO "Gostynets", Novoyavorivsk, Lviv region
- Boyarka Community Foundation, Boyarka, Kyiv region.
Information about each organization, including constituent documents and reports, can be found at https://philanthropy.com.ua/member
Contact information
If you have any questions about the project, please contact the coordinator Maksym Hrynchyshyn at m.hrynchyshyn@philanthropy.com.ua
We are open to cooperation, your ideas and suggestions!