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Working closely with Sahel Eco and several other NGO partners, our Trees for Change project in Mali has been a great success. This film was made with local people from the project (from villages of Horé Guendé and Endé) to illustrate the issues and give practical advice on "how to do" farmer managed natural regeneration. We use the film in sub-Saharan Africa to show villagers how the new techniques we teach them will be of benefit to them in the future.
Community manage natural regeneration of trees in the Sahel, Africa a film funded by the International Tree Foundation on Vimeo. Current Projects needing fundingBurkina FasoMaliGhanaEthiopiaCurrent Projects Fully fundedBurkina FasoMaliGhanaCurrent Projects needing fundingBurkina FasoTrees for Trade - Fada N'Gourma, Barsalogho and Parc de Po
Picture: Salamata (centre) and her friends plant Shea trees and sell the nuts produced as part of the Trees for Trade programme Poor rural families in Burkina Faso need cash income to meet basic needs. This is why TREE AID launched the Village Tree Enterprise (VTE) programme, to help villagers make money from tree products. 24 groups in 4 villages in Parc de Po are now working on plans to develop tree products. This project is now helping them to expand their forest resources to secure the future of these new enterprises. The village entrepreneurs have already identified essential investments in local forest resources as part of the enterprise planning process. At community meetings they have reviewed and agreed how many tree seedlings, and of which species, need to be raised. The individuals and groups in the community who will be planting these, where natural forest needs to be regenerated and what specific skills and knowledge they need to acquire to make this happen has also been agreed. They have also recognised the need for changes in land management practice to provide the right support and incentives to sustain this investment in their trees and forests. This project will be helping them to deliver on these plans. Budget for Fada N'Gourma: £139,098 Budget for Barsalogho: £103,136 - This project is now fully funded thankyou! Budget for Parc de Po: £105,971 Project duration: 2007-2010 MaliTrees for Trade - Tominion
Picture: Oumar Lougu weeding under a young mango tree grown as part of Mali's Village Tree Enterprise programme The next stage of the Village Tree Enterprise programme which aims to help villagers make money from the many products that grow on trees. At Tominian 49 groups in 19 communities have developed business plans based on these tree products. The project aims to pay for training and equipment for these village entrepreneurs to plant, manage and protect these trees and forests and to involve the entrepreneure in plans at local government level. Also villagers from 30 neighbouring communities will be given training in bush fire management as these fires are a critical risk to forest resources. Primary beneficiaries of this project will be the 700 members of the 49 village tree enterprise groups. On this project TREE AID is working with local partner Sahel Eco who will assign one staff member to co-ordinate training, facilitation, data collection and reporting. A TREE AID project officer will undertake field monitoring visits to provide technical support and compile progress reports and work plans. To learn more about our partner Sahel Eco vsist their website www.saheleco.net Global funding requirement: £143,320 Project duration: 2009 - 2012 Building Forest Enterprise
This project will build alliances and forge market links, bringing local organisations rooted in the community together with key government agencies. It will also enable villagers to get their tree product businesses up and running and support them in managing their forest resources in such a way as to secure future supplies of the tree products to feed these enterprises. Villagers have identified viable enterprises for themselves, using a new Market Analysis & Development approach to build entrepreneurial skills and experience. 49 interest groups will be implementing their business plans marketing the following tree products: shea nut (14 groups), shea butter (9 groups), tamarind fruit (4 groups), balanites (2 groups) and saba fruit (20 groups). Alongside these business plans, communities are developing matching plans for forest resource management with the support of TREE AID’s project partner and the local Government Forest Service. Global funding requirement: £159,532 Project duration: 2010 - 2011 GhanaGrowing Tree Businesses - Ghana Village Tree Enterprise Project Stage 2
Shea nuts being crushed by a group in Ghana to make Shea butter and soap Northern Ghana is being left behind as the rest of the country enjoys economic growth. Most families in the north rely on farming in a harsh dry climate, vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Now the world economic crisis limits their opportunities for earning income, which they need to pay for basic needs. Trees are one of the few resources they can use for this purpose, but often this means cutting them down to meet growing urban demand for charcoal and firewood. In fact trees can be worth far more left standing, if their many non timber products can be processed and traded by local people. This is why TREE AID launched the Village Tree Enterprise (VTE) programme. The 10 communities involved in this project have developed business plans for 45 different enterprises. They plan to produce shea nuts, shea butter, organic mango, forest honey and handy-crafts from various forest products. Now they need support to take the next steps. They must access training, finance and market information. They need to collaborate and coordinate their efforts to gain a foothold in new markets, and they must secure the trees they need to supply their businesses in the future. Global funding requirement: £377,915 Project duration: 2009 - 2013 Community Self Reliance Project
Picture: Christiana Mbod is involved in the Community Self Reliance Project, with her daughter Akisyan The harsh effects of climate change are being felt by rural communities in Northern Ghana. Long droughts, followed by extensive flooding, make farming a precarious way of life. With few options for employment, farmers are driven to clear more land, burning and cutting trees to leave denuded landscapes prone to erosion. Soil fertility is further undermined by unsustainable farming practices and taboo's against tree planting, whilst village schools are left unprotected from storm damage, with eroded and unusable play areas. The 14 target communities need to develop new skills in sustainable tree and land management and to diversify their sources of income through the sale of tree products including honey and organic mango. Using Agro-forestry and organic farming techniques soil fertility can be improved, whilst tree planting around schools and public buildings can prevent erosion and provide protection from the elements. Wide community involvement is essential, to challenge taboos and raise awareness of the many benefits of trees. Children in 12 schools will be trained in environmental management, tree seedling production and tree planting and care. Each school will reclaim degraded land around their schools by planting 250 food trees per school. As the trees grow and the children benefit from the tree crops, as well as an improved environment around their school buildings, the value of trees for creating a more sustainable future for their families will become tangible. Global budget: £193,438  RIBI are part funding this project. Learn more about the RIBI and TREE AID partnership on the Community Giving page. Project duration: 2008-2013 EthiopiaForests for Food
Picture: Seedlings growing in the Central nursery at Debre Birhan Teacher Training College in Ethiopia This project aims to improve the lives of poor families from 2 Monastries and 3 Peasant Associations by restoring the degraded environment, conserving soils and water, replacing lost tree cover and opening up new opportunities for generating income. It will raise awareness of local people on options for using trees to improve farm production and to meet their most immediate household needs, notably for fuel and food. It will develop the knowledge and skills for local people to implement and innovate, working with them to select and refine the most appropriate techniques and practices, to share lessons and experiences and to overcome any social or institutional contraints to better environmental management. Global funding requirement: £192,121 Project duration: 2006 - 2012 Fully funded Current ProjectsBurkina FasoLand and Livelihoods Séguénéga
Picture: Land and Livelihoods project members meeting under a Neem tree Working with eight villages in the harsh northern lands of Burkina Faso. Here the farming population relies on cereal crops and forest products for food. A history of drought and over exploitation of forest resources has lead to acute environmental problems, economic hardships and food shortages. The project aims to help farmers and rural women to restore degraded lands to improve agricultural yield, to develop sustainable uses of forests and forest products and to conserve and manage trees by protecting forests and planting new woodlots and orchards. Global funding requirement: £ 97,613 This project is benefiting from £18,826 of co-funding from the Global Environment Fund, channelled through the local UN Development Fund offices. Project Duration: Feb 2007 – Jan 2012 Village Tree Enterprise Burkina Faso
Picture: The Iman of Nagre, Issaka Guitenga, with Guavas from his Tree Aid funded orchard Whilst money doesn't grow on trees, villagers can make money from the things that do, such as seeds, fruits, nuts, leaves, flowers, fibres... the list is endless! Developing products from indigenous trees, adapted to the arid climate of the region, presents low risk and sustainable returns for small enterprise development by poor rural families and particularly women. This project helps villagers analyse and develop options for themselves, building on their existing knowledge of resources and markets. It puts the local people at the centre of this process, facilitating strategic alliances and forging market linkages, bringing together local organisations rooted in the community and key government agencies with mandates covering natural resources, rural development and promotion of women. Community owned enterprise development plans are an intermediate output, but the project will not stop there. Support for implementing these plans will optimise the long term ‘survival rate' for small-scale community-based enterprises that will alleviate poverty through income generation while encouraging sustainable management of national forest resources. TREE AID is working on this project in partnership with the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN, Ministries and government services and local NGO partners. The project is currently operating in 66 villages in Burkina in the provinces of Gourma, Zoundwéogo, Nahouri, Bam, Sanmatenga and Passoré. Global budget: £1,479,000 Project duration: Jan 2005 – Dec 2011 Trees for Change BurkinaTo realise the full potential of trees and forest products communities need to invest for the long term. This will only happen where they feel secure in their own rights to access and control these vital resources. Customary laws and traditional authorities once provided a stable environment for local management of natural resources. The colonial era brought central government into the picture and still today many powers and responsibilities for forest management rest, at least nominally, with the government forest service. With decentralisation now a key government policy there is an opportunity to resolve current confusions over rights to forest resources and allow rural people to claim a greater role in forest management. However, villagers lack both sufficient knowledge of these complex legal changes and the capacity to benefit in a way that could dramatically improve their lives. This project will work at several levels, piloting systems of community forest management and helping to develop by laws and local agreements at district level. It will also It will work with central government agencies to make a success of their plans to decentralize forest management and support poor forest users to claim a voice in relevant policy debates. The project will complement the development of village tree enterprises by securing their access to the raw materials upon which they depend. Global budget: £497,300 Full funding for this project has been secured from DFID through their Civil Society Challenge Fund. Project duration: Oct 2007 – Sept 2012 Forest Connect
Many SMFEs work together in associations to reduce transaction costs, adapt to new market opportunities and shape the policy environment in their favour. But in least developed countries, support structures for such forest associations either do not exist or fail to reach those who need help most. The central aim of this project is to connect SMFEs to:
Through the project information services and support networks for SMFEs will be developed, as well as an information ‘toolkit' based on practical experience to support SMFE sustainability. The toolkit will be tested, applied and revised not only in Burkina but in atleast 7 other countries involved in the Forest Connect initiative to maximise the worldwide potential of such information services and support networks for SMFEs. Project Cost: $10,000+ in year 1 (funding secured from UN FAO); $15,000 in year 2. Project Duration: 2007 - 2009 To read more about Forest Connect click here MaliTrees for ChangeThe Mali government policy of decentralisation offers rural people an opportunity to claim a greater role in the management of their woodland resources and agricultural land. However, villagers lack a sufficient knowledge of the complex legal changes this has brought about and lack the capacity to benefit in a way that could dramatically improve their lives. This project is supporting 120 communities in the Mopti and Bankass regions of Mali, working through established local community associations to raise awareness and to empower villagers to participate in the development of local laws and management plans for the sustainable use of their biodiversity. Their experiences will be fed into national policy development on community management of forest resources and biodiversity. This project is now fully funded, thank you! Project duration: Mar 2006 - 2010 GhanaKandema rural regeneration projectThis project aims to enable 4 communities in Builsa to adapt and develop their management of natural resources to improve their lives and cope with their uncertain future. It will support the establishment of woodlots and fruit tree orchards to provide fuelwood and food, and villagers will receive training and equipment to set up nurseries for raising over 50,000 seedlings. They will also be trained in improved techniques for sustainable farming and regeneration of eroded land to increase crop yields. Finally, women's groups will be formed to develop small enterprises marketing tree products, generating income to help provide essentials for their families such as healthcare, education, food and clothing. This project is now fully funded, thank you! Project duration: Oct 2007 – Oct 2011 |
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Pictured: Idrissa Minta a fisherman by trade who has retrained to be a successful nursery man in charge of raising trees for the entrepreneurs in his village.
Small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) are critical to the poor. They generate local wealth, help to secure local resources and environmental accountability, promote local creativity and help to preserve indigenous cultures and market niches. But while the number of SMFEs starting up in least developed countries is high, keeping them going sustainably is a major challenge. They face problems such as too much bureaucracy, unstable policies and regulations, insecure land rights, lack of bargaining power, insufficient business knowledge and difficulties accessing credit, market information and technology.
