One of the guest speakers #CCRI2015 was Margi Lennartsson from Garden Organic. Here are the slides from her presentation on the significance of growing carrots for health and happiness.

1. Growing carrots for health and happiness
Margi Lennartsson
Garden Organic
CCRI Policy Conference
22 January 2015

2. Promoting and supporting people to grow
organically

3. Benefits of gardening and food growing
Environment Building Stronger
Communities

4. Benefits of gardening and food growing
Health and wellbeing

5. Growing food for health, wellbeing and
happiness
• Access to fruit and vegetables – improved diet
• Learning and connecting with food
• Increase levels of physical activity and fitness
• Support recovery, rehabilitation and coping
with physical and mental health challenges
• Reduce stress
• Improve social interaction and cohesion
• Meaningful, worthwhile and fun activity -
happiness and wellbeing

6. Sydenham Gardens
Growing Opportunities, Sandwell
Hoventon House Care Home
Community food growing in health settings
University Hospitals Coventry
and Warwickshire

7. May 2010 – April 2014
•7 networks
•609 volunteers trained
•26,700 volunteer hours
•82% volunteer retention
•5,949 people regularly mentored
•77,000 food growing conversations
•4 new networks launched in 2014

8. Recruit, train and support volunteers

9. Support food growers

10. Evaluating outcomes and impacts

11. For the majority of respondents...
• the amount of food they grow
(77% of households; 55% of volunteers)
• the range of food they grow
(76% of households; 74% of volunteers)
• their knowledge of food growing
(88% of households; 94% of volunteers)
...has increased since joining the programme
Food growing

12. Physical activity

13. For 19% of volunteers and 14% of householders the amount of fruit and veg
they consume on average per day increased
Eating fruit and vegetables
• Households = 4.5 / 4.9 after 12 / 36 months
• Master Gardeners = 5.0 / 5.3 after 12 / 36 months
• UK = 4.1 (DoH/FSA 2012)

14. Households – 7% higher life satisfaction
Master Gardeners – 10% higher life satisfaction
Involvement increased life satisfaction for 77% of
householders and 84% of Master Gardeners
Feeling part of a community
34% of households & 61% of volunteers feel more part of their
local community since joining the programme
“I’ve never spoken to them before and people will go past and say ‘your sunflowers are
amazing’ [...] I'd tell them to give it a go. We've been passing produce back and forth."
Householder
Happiness and wellbeing

15. The Social Return on Investment
1. Identifying stakeholders - materially affected
2. Mapping the outcomes (‘theory of change’)
3. Evidencing outcomes and giving them a value (using proxies)
4. Calculating the ratio

16. SROI: Calculating the ratio
adjusting for e.g.
•inflation
•duration of the outcome
•what would have happened anyway
•what can be attributed directly to the project

17. SROI ratio £1 : £10.70 (£1 : £7.50 - £11.20)

18. Outcome group Outcomes in group % benefit
Health and wellbeing
• Improved physical health
• Improved mental health
38%
Community life and
life satisfaction
• Increased life satisfaction
• Increased trust and belonging
• Increased community
participation
30%
Food eating and
buying
• Increased food affordability
• Reduced income leakage
through food expenditure
28%
Skills base and
employability
• Increased employability /
financial security
• Increased competence,
engagement and purpose
4%
Food recycling and
composting
• Carbon reduction through
sustainable behaviours
0.03%
Social returns

19. Thank you
www.gardenorganic.org.uk
www.growinghealth.info
mlennartsson@gardenorganic.org.uk