INTRODUCTION OF ELIOT JORI
“I am joining the ISA program with great expectations and responsibilities toward the successful implementation of my urban agriculture project. I have the mandate to actively participate during fellowship proceedings to share my professional, academic, and life experiences. I believe my stay in Hamburg will definitely assist me in building everlasting networks and cooperation with fellow colleagues and partners across Germany. I expect to tour some of the existing urban farms or gardens within and outside Hamburg.”
Eliot Jori is an urban planner from Zimbabwe. His ISA project is to set up a formal urban agriculture system in Harare managed by an Urban Agriculture Association. The practicing of deemed informal urban agriculture predominantly in Harare`s high-density neighbourhoods’ has brought more benefits than harm to the city and hence the necessity to introduce a regulated system. The introduced urban agriculture system will be comprised of residential-scale urban gardens, edible urban gardens, and small-scale community gardens. The system’s successful development will pave the way for adopting technologically based effective agricultural systems in the future such as rooftop and vertical urban farms. The urban agriculture system will be targeting low-income and informal settlement residences whose income sources are negatively affecting food access and other daily life needs.
His main goal is to develop legitimate urban farms and gardens, give awareness and demonstrate the significance of supportable implementation of urban agriculture to promote sustainable urban food systems, poverty reduction, environmental conservation, and reduce urban heat islands and climate change. The project is gender inclusive; the beneficiaries are drawn across all members of the community with notable biases towards women, young boys or girls, and the disabled. Urban farming in various forms promotes social entrepreneurship skills development, climate justice campaigns, and conflict resolution skills among the participants.
