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How a neglected urban space became a thriving community garden that provides food, education, and connection for local residents
Contact Us to Start Your ProjectThe Libreville Urban Garden project began in 2018 as a community-led initiative to transform a vacant, trash-filled lot in the Akébé neighborhood into a productive garden space. What started as a small cleanup effort by local residents has grown into a thriving community hub that produces fresh food, provides educational opportunities, and strengthens community bonds.
With support from Dilulu, the community has developed a 0.75-acre site into a diverse garden that combines vegetable production, fruit trees, medicinal plants, and community gathering spaces. The garden now serves as a model for urban agriculture in Libreville and has inspired similar initiatives in other neighborhoods.
The project demonstrates how urban agriculture can address multiple challenges simultaneously: improving food security, enhancing environmental quality, creating economic opportunities, and building social cohesion. It showcases the power of community-led initiatives when supported with appropriate resources, technical assistance, and organizational development.
The Akébé neighborhood faced multiple interconnected challenges that the urban garden project sought to address.
The neighborhood had few sources of fresh, nutritious food, with the nearest market over 2 kilometers away. Many families struggled to afford and access fresh vegetables, relying instead on processed foods with lower nutritional value.
The vacant lot had become an informal dumping ground, creating environmental and health hazards for nearby residents. Stagnant water collected in discarded containers, creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes and increasing malaria risk.
The neighborhood had high unemployment rates, particularly among women and youth. Limited access to land and resources made it difficult for residents to develop sustainable livelihoods based on their agricultural knowledge and skills.
Rapid urbanization had weakened traditional community structures and support systems. Many residents, particularly recent migrants to the city, felt isolated and lacked spaces for social connection and mutual support.
Agricultural and medicinal plant knowledge was being lost as younger generations had fewer opportunities to learn from elders. The disconnect from food production meant many children had limited understanding of where food comes from.
While community members had the motivation to transform the space, they lacked resources, tools, and technical knowledge for urban agriculture. Initial attempts at gardening faced challenges with soil quality, water access, and appropriate growing techniques.
The Libreville Urban Garden project took a holistic, community-led approach to transforming the vacant lot into a productive and vibrant community space. With support from Dilulu, the community implemented a comprehensive solution that addressed multiple challenges simultaneously.
The process began with community meetings to develop a shared vision for the space. Using participatory design methods, residents mapped community assets, identified needs, and created a plan that reflected local priorities and knowledge.
Community members organized cleanup events to remove trash and prepare the site. Soil testing identified contamination issues, which were addressed through bioremediation techniques and raised bed construction to ensure safe food production.
A rainwater harvesting system was installed to capture water from nearby roofs, supplemented by a well with a solar-powered pump. Drip irrigation and mulching techniques were implemented to maximize water efficiency in the tropical climate.
The garden was designed with multiple production zones: community plots for shared production, family plots for household use, a medicinal plant section, fruit trees, a seedling nursery, and a composting area that processes neighborhood organic waste.
Regular training workshops built community capacity in urban agriculture techniques, composting, seed saving, and value-added processing. A special focus was placed on intergenerational knowledge exchange, with elders sharing traditional practices.
The Libreville Urban Garden has achieved significant impacts across multiple dimensions, transforming both the physical space and the community around it.
The garden now produces over 2.5 tons of fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs annually. Participating families report eating a greater variety of vegetables and spending less on food purchases. A community nutrition program has helped families incorporate more fresh produce into traditional recipes.
The former dumping ground has been transformed into a green oasis that enhances biodiversity and improves air quality. The garden's composting system processes over 5 tons of organic waste annually, diverting it from landfills and improving soil fertility.
Twelve micro-enterprises have emerged from the garden, including a seedling nursery, a food processing collective that makes preserves and dried herbs, and a garden-to-table catering service. These enterprises provide supplemental income for 25 community members, primarily women.
The garden has become a vibrant community hub where people gather, share knowledge, and support each other. Regular community events, including harvest celebrations and cooking demonstrations, have strengthened social connections and built a sense of collective pride.
The garden's educational programs have engaged over 500 students from local schools, teaching them about food production, ecology, and nutrition. The medicinal plant section has become a living library of traditional knowledge, with elders teaching younger generations about plant properties and uses.
The success of the Libreville Urban Garden has inspired four similar initiatives in other neighborhoods. The project has also influenced municipal policy, with the city government now supporting urban agriculture through a new land access program and including urban gardens in its climate resilience strategy.
Hear from the people who have been part of the Libreville Urban Garden journey.
Before the garden, I had to travel far to buy vegetables, and they were expensive. Now I grow food for my family right here, and my children are eating vegetables they never tried before. The garden has changed how we eat and how we spend our money. I've also started a small business selling seedlings, which helps pay for my children's school fees.
I've lived in this neighborhood for 40 years and watched it change. When we started cleaning up this lot, many people said it was impossible to grow food in the city. Now they come to see what we've created! I teach the young people about our traditional plants and how to use them. It makes me happy to see this knowledge continuing to the next generation.
As a science teacher, I bring my students to the garden regularly. It's a living laboratory where they can learn about plant biology, ecology, and nutrition in a hands-on way. The students are always excited to visit, and many have started growing vegetables at home with their families. The garden has become an essential extension of our classroom.
Key insights from the Libreville Urban Garden experience that can inform other community garden initiatives.
The success of the garden stems from its foundation in community priorities and knowledge. By starting with a participatory process that engaged diverse community members in visioning and planning, the project built strong ownership and commitment from the beginning.
The garden's design intentionally addresses multiple community needs—food production, environmental improvement, economic opportunity, social connection, and education. This integrated approach has created synergies and attracted diverse community participation.
Valuing and incorporating traditional agricultural knowledge has been essential to the garden's success. By creating opportunities for elders to share their expertise, the project has preserved valuable knowledge while adapting it to urban contexts.
The garden's governance structure—with a coordinating committee, clear roles, and transparent decision-making processes—has been crucial for managing the shared space effectively and resolving conflicts when they arise.
By offering diverse ways to participate—from growing food to composting to education to marketing—the garden has engaged community members with different interests, skills, and availability, creating a broad base of support.
While clear guidelines and systems are important, the garden has also maintained flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and emerging opportunities, allowing it to evolve based on community learning and new ideas.
Visual highlights from the Libreville Urban Garden project.
Inspired by the Libreville Urban Garden story? Dilulu can help your community transform unused spaces into productive gardens that nourish people and strengthen communities.
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