01
Give
funds
Finance a garden
Your gift pays for seeds, tools, compost bins and the trips to reach new schools.
Who we are
We help children grow their own food
STEM Garden Initiative works with schools and communities in Nigeria. We set up gardens, train the people who look after them, and turn each harvest into lessons and income.
Mary Ameh started the project in 2023 as her Be the Change project while she was a Teach For Nigeria Fellow. Too many of her pupils came to class hungry and could not concentrate. A garden was something a school could build and keep running itself. Since then our team and volunteers have reached more than 10,000 children in underserved communities across Ogun, Lagos and Benue States.
School Gardens
Greenhouses
Tree Planting
Backyard Gardens
Teacher Training
Climate Club
Hungry children struggle to learn. So we plant.
Hungry children
struggle to learn.
So we plant.
66m
Primary school age children around the world go to school hungry every day, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
1 in 3
Nigerians live below the poverty line. Many underserved communities have little access to fresh produce, so children eat too little and too poorly.
A garden at school means fresh food, a living science lab and one more reason to come to class.
Our approach
Science lessons you can eat
We mix STEM lessons with sustainable farming, so pupils measure, test and build while they grow food.
Pupils learn how soil holds water, how compost breaks down, how to plan a bed and how to record what grows. Teachers get activities that fit the garden into the school week. In schools we work with, academic performance has gone up by 30% and attendance by 80%.
Read our story
Our story so far
How we have grown
2022
A Fellow sees the gap
Mary Ameh joins Teach For Nigeria and sees how hunger holds her pupils back.
2023
The first gardens
STEM Garden Initiative starts as her Be the Change project. Our Green Gurus place first runner-up at Earth Quest.
2024
Earth Quest again
Our learners take first runner-up again in the Global Interschool Earth Quest Climate Championship, across five countries.
Now
96 schools
Across Ogun, Lagos and Benue: over 10,000 learners reached, 286 teachers trained and more than 100 women growing food at home.
What we do
Programmes and Impact
Three areas of work. Each one is built on food, skills and income.
See all services
Sustainable Gardens and Greenhouses
Schools and communities
Poverty Graduation and Entrepreneurship
Women and youth
Career Readiness and Professional Development
Teachers and students
Climate Club and Tree Planting
Climate action
Project 10:10:10
10 schools every quarter
Our results so far
What the gardens have done
Schools reached
0
Learners reached
0
+
Teachers trained
0
Women with backyard gardens
0
+
Trees planted
0
+
Plastic repurposed
0
kg
Get involved
How you can help
02
Give
land
Donate a site
With land of our own we can put up greenhouses for school excursions and keep projects going year after year.
03
Give
tools
Send equipment
Greenhouse parts, garden tools, seeds, nursery trees and training materials all go straight to schools.
04
Train
teachers
Sponsor a training
A trained teacher keeps the garden going long after our visit ends. Sponsoring a training builds that into a school.
Volunteer
Join us as a STEM Garden volunteer
Care about food, climate and children's education? Help pupils learn to grow food, run a small business and look after their environment.
Who we work with
Our partners
