Thank You Gay Lea Foundation! 

Rooftops Canada is proud and grateful to receive a $25,000 Sustainable Agriculture Grant from the Gay Lea Foundation in support of the Women’s Spaces project. This generous funding comes at a meaningful moment, as we mark the International Year of Cooperatives 2025 and honour the cooperative values of solidarity, equality, and social responsibility. 

In rapidly growing cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, land is in high demand, for both housing and food. The Women’s Spaces project, led by Rooftops Canada and our local partners in partnership with Global Affairs Canada, is helping meet this challenge by working to ensure women’s equal access to and control over land, housing, and livelihoods. 

With the support of the Gay Lea Foundation and in partnership with Mazingira Institute in Kenya, we are supporting women to strengthen sustainable urban farming practices, equipping them with the tools, knowledge, and land access they need to: 

• Grow food in small urban spaces using sustainable methods like cone gardens and soilless hydroponics 

• Exchange knowledge across borders - sharing climate resilient and environmentally positive agriculture practices through a farmers-helping-farmers movement  

• Build inclusive economic growth for their communities 

This is more than a training initiative - it’s a model of global cooperation, rooted in community leadership and cooperative values. Together we are supporting women as leaders in sustainable agriculture, strengthening food systems, and building climate resilience and inclusive economic growth in communities.  

We extend heartfelt thanks to the Gay Lea Foundation for supporting this vision.  

Learn more: https://www.gaylea.com/news/foundation/gay-lea-foundation-celebrates-the-international-year-of-co-operatives-with-more-than-1-million-in-community-impact-grants (Gay Lea Foundation celebrates the International Year of Co-operatives with more than $1 million in community impact grants)