NSF-NFRF: Participatory design for climate change adaptation: Intergenerational climate responsive gardening approach to food security/climate literacy in South African schools

This award supports participation of three U.S. universities in an international collaboration to co-design climate-smart Indigenous food gardens in South African schools. There is an urgent need for adaptation responses that positively impact the food security of physically and socioeconomically marginalized families. Yet, there remains a significant gap in the integration of community knowledges with climate science to mobilize climate change adaptation responses. This project will consider how interdisciplinary community-based design for climate literacy can enact sustainable climate change adaptation extending beyond schools. This research work aims to create impacts on climate smart gardening, child health and well-being, and intergenerational climate literacy in a collaborative, sustainable, systems-focused process guided by contributions from multiple stakeholders working alongside the research team. Project outcomes will bring together ecoregional climate forecasting, climate-smart localized practices, and climate-smart extra-local literacies to impact the health and wellbeing of children from marginalized communities in South Africa. This project centers community-based and culturally responsive solutions integrating Indigenous and Local Ecological Knowledges (ILEK). This project will develop climate smart Indigenous food gardens in primary schools in three South African ecoregions located in the KwaZulu/Natal, Gauteng, and Limpopo provinces. The research design integrates four co-designed thematic research activities: 1) interventions on child health and well-being in the nutritional, climate literacy and land relations areas, 2) development of climate-smart Indigenous food gardens that integrate ILEK and climate modeling, 3) interventions on intergenerational climate literacy, and 4) development of a scalable model for trans-sectoral, community-based climate anticipatory responses through small scale gardening. By situating participation in gardening practices within community-embedded schools, this project fosters climate responsive communities while building intergenerational climate literacy that brings interdisciplinary agricultural and climate science knowledge together with ILEK. Stakeholders contributing to co-design, implementation and knowledge mobilization at each site include children and caregivers, ILEK keepers, school partners, NPO and NGO collaborators, traditional leaders, and provincial and national South African governmental partners. A key goal of this design-based project is an adaptable model for scalable ILEK-integrated climate-smart food gardening for social protection. This is a project jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and funding agencies from Canada and South Africa via the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Competition. This Competition allowed a single joint international proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by Canada. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.