Where We Work

TREE AID works in Africa's rural drylands, in some of the poorest regions of Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana and Mali, where forestry centred development interventions can alleviate poverty sustainably.

Geographical focus at both national and sub-national level has been determined through the application of the following criteria:

• Tree-focused projects could effectively ameliorate poverty and meet local needs for tree outputs
• Infrastructure, political climate and other conditions ensure the most effective use of our funding
• Levels of inter-governmental or aid agency support are insufficient to meet the severe need for forestry inputs.
• Regions where TREE AID has had good experience with partners and their projects
• Regions where our technical advisers have good knowledge and experience

  At sub-national level, geographical focus is also determined with a view to the feasibility of networking and mutual support between partners and, for projects in West Africa, the ease of access from our Ouagadougou office for assessment and monitoring of projects and support to partners.

Read about our focus countries......
Burkina Faso
Mali
Ghana
Ethiopia

Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 4^th lowest in the United Nations Human Development Index in 2006. Life expectancy is a mere 47.

Facts

Area: 274,200 sq km

Population: 15,264,735

% rural: 82.1

Climate: tropical; warm, dry winters; hot, wet summers

Main economic activities: About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop.

Living below $2 a day: 71.8%

HDI (Human Development Index) rank: 176 (out of 179)

Life expectancy: 52.55

% of population undernourished: 21

Literacy: 21.8 %

Traditional fuel consumption: 83.3 (% of total energy requirements)

CO2 emissions per capita: 0.1 (metric tons)

TREE AID in Burkina Faso

Date of first TREE AID project: 1994

 

Number of projects supported to date: 22 + Village Tree Enterprise (VTE)

TREE AID partners: ABF, AFRS, ADECUSS, NATURAMA, SEMUS

Regions covered: Yatenga, Loroum, Nahouri, Bam, Sanmatenga, Kouritenga, Ganzourgou, Zoundweogo & Gourma Provinces

Mali

Mali is 65% desert (or semi-desert). The remaining land is vulnerable to drought, deforestation and declining soil fertility. The population of 13 million is one of the poorest in the world, ranked 3^rd lowest in the 2006 UN Human Development Index. Life expectancy is only 47.

Facts

Area: 1.24 million sq km

Population: 12,324,029

% rural: 70.1

Climate: subtropical to arid; hot and dry (February to June); rainy, humid, and mild (June to November); cool and dry (November to February). 65% of its land area desert or semidesert

Main economic activities: About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labour force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along with gold.

Living below $2 a day: 72.1%

HDI rank: 168 (out of 179)

Life expectancy: 49.94

% of population undernourished: 29

Literacy: 46.4%

Traditional fuel consumption: 86.7 (% of total energy requirements)

CO2 emissions per capita: 0.1 (metric tons)

TREE AID in Mali

Date of first TREE AID project: 1993

Number of projects supported to date: 19 + VTE

Key TREE AID partners: Sahel Eco, ARAFD, AMEPPE

 

Regions Covered: Segou, Mopti and Koulikoro Regions


Ghana

 

In the north of Ghana, where TREE AID focuses its activity, child mortality rates are the highest in the country. Here the trees are being cleared for fuelwood and destroyed by bushfires as crop yields decline and food insecurity grows.

Facts

Area: 239,460 sq km

Population: 23,382,848

% rural: 52.9

Climate: tropical; hot and dry in north

Main economic activities: Gold, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange. The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 37% of GDP and employs 60% of the work force, mainly small landholders.

Living below $2 a day: 78.5%

HDI rank: 142 (out of 179)

Life expectancy: 56.7

% of population undernourished: 37

Literacy: 57.9%

Traditional fuel consumption: 84.7 (% of total energy requirements)

CO2 emissions per capita: 0.2 (metric tons)

TREE AID in Ghana

Date of first TREE AID project: 1994

Number of projects supported to date: 20 + VTE

 

Regions covered: Upper East & Upper West Regions. Generally, all new initiatives will be targeted in these areas. However TREE AID will continue to work through some existing partnerships and projects in neighbouring provinces and regions where there is a strategic benefit in doing so, to further our programme objectives at regional or national level and to maintain or develop important partnerships.

Ethiopia

 

In a country almost exclusively dependent on subsistence agriculture, deforestation and land degradation exacerbate some of the world's worst poverty. Life expectancy is a low 47. The project area has suffered deforestation mainly because of wood cutting for fuel and construction. Dried dung has replaced fuelwood for domestic use, and deprived land of manure.

Facts

Area: 1,127,127 sq km

Population: 85,544,840

% rural: 84.3

Climate: tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation

Main economic activities: Ethiopia's economy is based on agriculture, accounting for almost half of its GDP, and coffee.

Living below $2 a day: 77.8%

HDI rank: 169 (out of 179)

Life expectancy: 52.54

% of population undernourished: 69

Literacy: 42.7%

Traditional fuel consumption: 96.5 (% of total energy requirements)

CO2 emissions per capita: 0.1 (metric tons)

TREE AID in Ethiopia

Date of first TREE AID project: 1991

Number of projects supported to date: 8

Key TREE AID partners: EWNHS

Forest/vegetation types: Key tree species Acacia abyssinica, Hagenia abyssinica, Juniperus procera, Olea africana, Prunus africana

Regions Covered: TREE AID will continue to support work in the Oromia zone of Amhara region, pending the outcome of a planned feasibility study to consider future options for work in East Africa.

from CIA factbook, updated Sep 07

from Human Development Report 2006