Global impact

Local solutions. Global knowledge.

Garden Pool's international work has emphasized one thing above all: helping people gain the capacity to build, repair, adapt, and improve systems themselves.

From Arizona outward

A community project that became capacity development

What began as a single converted swimming pool in Mesa became a body of practical method — how to grow more food with less water, using materials that are already nearby.

As invitations arrived from outside Arizona, Garden Pool's focus shifted from installing systems to developing local capacity: training people, documenting designs, and adapting methods to local climate, diet, and supply.

Garden Pool has collaborated with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and historically maintained an international sub-office in Trinidad & Tobago. Garden Pool's founder is designated an IICA Goodwill Ambassador in Sustainable Development.

Verified locations

  • 01

    Arizona, USA

    Origin of the Garden Pool method; community programs, seed libraries, education and research.

  • 02

    Haiti

    Sustainable agriculture and community food-production work.

  • 03

    Trinidad & Tobago

    Golden Grove work and Garden Pool's historical international sub-office.

  • 04

    Barbuda

    School-based agricultural work during rebuilding of the agriculture sector.

  • 05

    St. Kitts & Nevis

    Climate-resilient aquaponics demonstration for farmers.

  • 06

    Suriname

    Agricultural disaster-risk-management capacity development with IICA.

  • 07

    Dominican Republic

    Garden Pool system built and taught locally.

Only verified locations are listed. Additional countries will be added as historical records are confirmed.

Focus areas

What this work addresses

  • Food security
  • Climate resilience
  • Post-disaster agricultural recovery
  • Appropriate technology
  • Local materials
  • Water conservation
  • Technology transfer
  • Training
  • Agricultural disaster-risk management
  • Community resilience

Historical context

Reported reach, reported honestly

By 2018, Microsoft reported that Garden Pool had grown to approximately 1,600 volunteers worldwide, a core team of around 20 people, and activity associated with roughly 40 countries.

These are historical, third-party reported figures from that period — not current organizational statistics.

Garden Pool build work underway on site