Social and Employment
Place
Gragnague, France
Sponsor
Amador Esparza
Grant(s)
€10,000 to the Selection Committee at 2013/10/15
Project leader
Located at Gragnague, 15 km northeast of Toulouse, the nonprofit Les Jardins du Girou is active in the professional reintegration of publics in difficulty (jobseekers and welfare recipients) by organic market gardening, like the Jardin de Cocagne.
The product of a real partnership with local economic players (ASF, Eurovia, Veolia, Cemex, ERDF), the local authorities (town hall of Gragnague, community of communes of Coteaux du Girou, general and regional authorities) who have released a 5 hectare plot to produce vegetables by organic farming, and a 2 hectare plot to install an organic orchard, the nonprofit plans to develop training programs in organic farming and short marketing chains by setting up a network of the consumer members and supplying the local public mass catering sector.
250 weekly baskets within 3 years
Since February 2013, 14 gardeners have joined the structure under a back-to-work arrangement to grow organic fruits and vegetables. Staffed by a skilled team of five persons, the back-to-work employees signed a contract that calls for periods of farm work and periods of counseling and training.
Apart from the delivery of 250 weekly baskets within 3 years, the goal is to prepare their professional future by a return to work after the Jardins or the start of a skills training program
The Foundation is participating in financing the new hothouses.
