test strategy kit

STRATEGY: Gardening Activities THINK ABOUT…

This strategy can address the following: …your team’s shared vision and
how this strategy and overall goal
Focus area(s): Mental health
Environment(s): Social connectedness can help to achieve it.
Physical and social environments Visit Step 1 of our Healthy
Setting(s): Community-at-large Communities Action Guide on the
Community facilities and organizations Alberta Healthy Communities Hub to
explore more about creating a shared
Overall Goal: Gardening can increase social and mental health, motivation, self-esteem, and reduce vision and developing a mission
stress.
statements.
How can we implement this strategy?
... the strategy’s audience when
Some ideas and aspects to consider when planning: planning every aspect of its

Audience: Who might benefit? implementation. For example:
 This is a small group or broader community level strategy Can people with reduced mobility
 For example: Older Adults, high-school students/adolescents, elementary school students, newcomers get to the location, including the
parking lot, meeting rooms, and
Setting: Where can we do it? restroom? If targeting families, is
 Potential settings for this strategy include:
the location and the
 Seniors’ housing developments (1) time/duration family-friendly?
 Along streets or walking trails
 Empty lots owned by the municipality can be borrowed or donated …the community assets map for
 Within/at community centres, daycares, schools, or shared public spaces ideas on leveraging resources and
 Indoor gardens using hydroponics or aquaponics
relationships.
Duration: How much time does it require? Visit the Alberta Healthy
 Gardens' duration depends on what is planted, the growing season, and where it is located (indoors or Communities Hub to learn more
about a Community Assets Map and
outdoors) other tools to understand your
community in Step 2 of our Healthy
Communities Action Guide.

 Consult a garden manual (search the web for one) and use it to define the plan and when each step will be THINK ABOUT…
completed. Example of some steps: Confirm location for garden activity; Create garden beds; Acquire soil and
seeds/plants (are donations possible?); Recruit experienced gardeners; Plan recruitment of garden participants; … diverse partners that could
etc. maintain the strategy if

Cost: How much can it cost? successful, be it with funding,
 Costs will depend on how it will be implemented, by whom, for how long, if donations and in-kind support maintenance, continuing use, and
are available, and so on.
 Some things to consider are: soil, shovels, seeds, materials for the garden beds or pots, etc. so.

Tip: Promoting Participation: ... including ways to allow for
- Provide garden spaces (1) knowledge, skills and experience
- Make garden beds waist height to accommodate functional and physical limitations (1) to be shared among participants
- Install garden beds next to one another to promote social interaction (1)
- Provide the tools required for gardening (1) and users. It can help with
inclusion and valorization of
Bring Partners: Who else can be involved and support?
 Partner with organizations or groups in the community for resources, spaces, volunteers, advertisement, citizens.
and/or funding
 Search for partners who might share an interest in maintaining the strategy if shown to be successful ... who could be interested in the
 Some examples can include: results of the strategy and its
 Educational institutions and schools can have experts to help build raised garden beds (1)
 Gardening societies/clubs and greenhouses may be able to help with both expertise and resources successes. They can be potential
 Recruiting an expert from a location mentioned above, or another source you can think of, can stakeholders to partner for
provide lessons and demonstrations of gardening techniques (1) defining the evaluation plan,
doing the strategy, and/or
Spin-off Ideas: How can we build on or expand it? maintaining it in the future.
 Sharing and Socialization: social time over refreshments and snacks (2-6), conversations during shared
meals (1) using food grown from the garden, peer learning on different gardening techniques (9-11) ... skills among team members to
support evaluation. Writing an
evaluation plan is important but
can be challenging.
Visit the Alberta Healthy

Communities Hub for more resources
and consult Step 4 of our Healthy
Communities Action Guide.

 Intergenerational: partnerships between seniors homes/clubs and schools, within the activity encourage THINK ABOUT…
intergenerational age groups, encourage families to participate, design it as an afterschool program for
seniors and teens  Is the information you need
already available?
 Think Bigger: Recurrent educational sessions on gardening techniques (1) over the length of the season (for
example: Weekly for 1h), educational cooking class using the food grown in the garden, a volunteering  What type of tool is best
program designed to maintain the garden, creation of a cookbook using the food grown in the garden suited to gather the desired
information?
How will we know if it was successful?
 Who could provide the
Success depends on the results – also known as outcomes – expected for the strategy. Complex implementation information if asked?
plans have more potential for greater results that also require deeper learnings and reflections on its successes.
 Who can gather the
Here are some potential results you may observe from this strategy: information?

Mental & Social Health Physical Health Knowledge & Skills  When do we want the
information by?
Increase in: Increase in: Increase in:
- Peer support and peer learning (1) - Self-rated nutrition status (1) - Skills in gardening techniques (1)  With whom and how can the
- Social engagement, friendships and - Awareness of healthy eating options - Knowledge of different vegetables results be shared?
sharing (1) in the community (stories) (1)
- Pride in growth and progress of - Knowledge of how food can be ... any potential unintended
gardens (1) locally grown (stories) outcomes from this strategy. For
- Overall cognition (1) example: Are any groups being

By carefully evaluating the strategy, the team and partners can reflect and learn whether the intended results did excluded? Could the strategy
happen. Careful evaluation requires planning what will be evaluated when, and how the information will be impose barriers or lead to
gathered. discrimination among
participants?
What to evaluate?
… how you will communicate and
1. Reflect on the expected outcomes: Based on how the strategy will be implemented, which of the results above spread awareness for your
are most likely to happen? Are there other expected and unexpected results? What would the community like to
see to say the strategy was successful? strategy. Ensure to tailor messages
and methods of communication to

your target audience!
Unsure where to start? View our
strategy kit on Social Campaigns

on the Alberta Healthy
Communities Hub for more

guidance.

2. Define what you want to know about the outcome (the details): Do you expect change (increase or decrease) as CALL TO ACTION!
result of the strategy? Or to start to see something new? Or to stop seeing something that exists? Are there any
criteria to define that an outcome was “successfully met”? Write some questions about what you and partners Share your story! Sharing your
would like to know in relation to the results of the strategy. learning(s) and success(es) is

3. Choose your indicators or measures: How do expect these outcomes to manifest? What information is needed to essential.
answer those questions and compare to your criteria of success?
 Fosters ongoing engagement
When to evaluate? with potential future partners
and members of the larger
• Information gathered at different time points of the implementation can evaluate different aspects of the community
strategy’s “success.”
 Promotes knowledge transfer
• Information gathered before and after tells us about change and progress: as it can lead to learning,
 Change: Information gathered before the implementation creates a baseline for comparison with the building capacity and improve
information gathered after. What is the state of those outcomes after doing the strategy compared to practice
how they were before the strategy?
 Progress: The same information can then continue to be gathered in intervals to learn how the  Shows accountability to funders
strategy continues to change the outcome in the long term. and shows the team’s
commitment to accountability
• Information gathered during the implementation tells us about the process. as a whole
 Process: Think about “milestones’ throughout the implementation strategy that tell you how well the
strategy is working. Evaluating throughout the implementation process allows you to watch for what is  Leverages results which creates
going as planned and any challenges or problems. Are we in the right path to achieve the intended synergy to continue to work
“success”? Do we need to change anything? together and may lead to new
and improved ways of doing
How to gather the information? things

• Once the team has decided what milestones and outcomes will be evaluated and when, think about: Visit the Healthy Communities Hub
 How and what type of information will be gathered and by whom. to share your story with the Alberta
 For example: Will someone talk to people to gather their perceptions and feelings, for Community, and read more about
example? Or will a set of questions be asked on very specific aspects? other stories that have been shared

• All information gathered will need to be analyzed and results presented back to the team in a timely fashion under Community Stories!
for decision making. Only then the evaluation will be complete and served its purpose.

Examples to help get you started:

Success / Expected result Evaluation Indicators Type of question: How to measure
Questions (What) (When to measure)
Outcome (What)  Survey style: Specific question rated on a 1-5
(What) Participants feeling socially Change: Measure before scale.
Category connected to others. and after
Do gardening  Conversation style: The individual share verbally
Mental & Social 1. Increased participants feel more Participants reporting Change: Measure before their feelings of being connected to others.
Health social socially connected knowledge of healthy eating and after
connectednes than before? options in the community.  Survey style: Specific question rated on a 1-5
s Progress: Measure before scale.
Do gardening Participants showing the and in intervals after the
Physical Health 2. Increase in participants report ability to utilize techniques activity  Conversation style: The individual discussing
awareness of increased awareness learned through peer one-on-one or in group their awareness of
healthy eating of healthy eating learning or educational Process: Specific time healthy eating options in the community.
options in the options? strategies within the activity. point during
community implementation  Survey style: Specific question rated on a 1-5
Do gardening  Number of people scale. Ex: How capable do you feel using the
Knowledge & 1. Increase in participants show an attending the gardening technique you learned?
Skills skills in increase in skills activities.
gardening regarding techniques  Conversation style: The individual can discuss
techniques used in the activity?  Rates of individual one-on-one or in a group their self-perceived
attendance. ability to utilize different skills.
Implementation 2. Increased use Are most participants
Process of gardens being able to meet  Reports of enablers and  Observation style: photographs or weekly logs
within the the group for the barriers to attending. can display/comment on the skills of the
community/tar gardening activities? participants and how they are changing
geted group of
the activity.  Track attendance at activities
 Survey style: Specific question asking about

barriers to accessing activity.
 Conversation style: Participants can discuss the

enablers and barriers to attending the activity in
either a one-on-one session or a group
discussion (focus group).

Overall Impact 3. Increased What advantages do Participants reporting New outcome: Measure  Survey style: Specific question asking about the
positive participants report in positive experiences with after benefits. The choices list as many benefits as
experiences participating in the the activities. possible (including expected outcomes) and ask
through gardening activities? participants to “Check all that apply” or rank the
participating in top 3.
the gardening
activity.  Conversation style: Participants are asked to list
openly in individual interviews or as part of a
group discussion.

LOCAL EXAMPLES

INCREDIBLE EDIBLES (ST. PAUL) CALL TO ACTION!

Cost: $ Read more about these
Audience and Setting: Broad community stories or explore other
initiatives on the Alberta
- Planted herbs and vegetables in planter barrels along the town main street Healthy Communities
- Expansion of the Incredible Edibles project now includes involving three local school shop
classes to help build raised garden beds for use in community facilities and organizations Hub!
- This initiative was made possible through a number of strong partnerships. For example;
The Town of St. Paul assists with watering the planters and the Chamber of Commerce HEADS UP!
assists with promotion and renting the planters to local businesses
- Go one step further: combine this strategy with a walking group to encourage physical This strategy kit was
activity and appreciation of the gardens! developed based off of
evidence targeted for seniors,
COMMUNITY GARDENS (EVANSBURG) but can easily be adapted to
your community. As more
Cost: $$ communities implement this
Audience and Setting: Small group within the community initiative and share their
stories on the Hub, we can use
- The County, local gardening clubs, Lobstick Literacy Society, local library, businesses, school their strategies to add
council and other volunteers are contributing their time and expertise in planning the garden evidence-based tips and
- 9 community garden beds were constructed at the local high school and placed in an empty guidance for a variety of
lot between the Lutheran Church and a Seniors residence settings and population
- Go one step further: have the seniors paint the beds for an arts-based strategy
groups!
GARDEN TOWERS (COLD LAKE)

Cost: $$$
Audience and Setting: Small group within the organization

- Tower Gardens are illuminated, free-standing growing stations that provide year-round
access to garden fresh produce
- They are a great way to quickly and easily grow fresh herbs, leafy greens and vegetables!
- A cool inspiration to combine it with an arts- strategy: Youth at the Cold Lake Native
Friendship Centre painted the towers to look like totem poles