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JEEP: promoting home gardening in Kinshasa, Zaire
Kabeya Mpoyi and J. Paulus SJ
Projet Jardins et Elevages de Parcelle, Kinshasa XI, Zaire

Introduction

The principles of ecodevelopment can help resource-poor people take charge of their own destiny. The project ‘Jardins et Elevages de Parcelle’ (JEEP) is an example of the implementation of these principles. The project, established in 1989, aims to assist people at the grassroots level to achieve significant agricultural production at home through the use of the home plot environment and available local resources.

The main objective of the project is to contribute to the health of the target people by enhancing food security and to thereby initiate a process of integrated sustainable development. The strategy is to provide the target people with an appropriate tool for agricultural production. They can then use their food products for family consumption and sell the surplus to buy other complementary food products. This is expected to have beneficial effects on health. The target people are everyone living in a residential plot within the project range of action and willing to participate. Owing to the present difficult situation in Zaire, particular attention is paid to the poorest families and those with malnourished children. The range of action of the project includes the areas of Kinshasa served by the ‘Santé pour tous’ Project. In each of the zones defined by this project, a health centre is chosen for demonstrations of project activities aiming to control malnutrition. In 1995, JEEP operated in the following health zones: Binza, Kimbaseke, Kingabwa, Kingasani, Kisenso, Kintambo, Kitokimosi, Makelele, Malebo, Masina, Mont Amba, Mont Ngafula, N’djili and Ngaba. Forty-one health centres were covered in these 14 health zones.

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