Frequently Asked Questions
We also help villagers to protect existing tree stock so they can make immediate use of trees and their products. However, when planting trees in good conditions, seedlings such as miniature baobabs can be productive within as little as 18 months. Recent project reports indicate that trees planted just 3 years ago have achieved significant height and are already producing their first fruit.
In the first instance a community-based organisation or local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) will hear about TREE AID on the grapevine, through the media or local publicity. When they approach us for support, a full assessment of them and the work for which they want funding, will be undertaken by TREE AID. This is how we develop our partner NGOs, who implement projects to alleviate poverty. Traditionally, if their work fits our funding criteria, they are asked to submit an application form. Successful applicants undergo an organisational assessment to establish their ability to effectively manage the project. Through this we have established good working relationships with many NGO partners in our focus countries. All partners participate in the development of our strategy and we will continue to work closely with them to develop projects that match each of our respective strategies. Rather than build up our own major in-country structures, we focus on building up local organisations through technical and management support, training and funding. Having an on-the-ground presence has many advantages for:
· ownership and participation · scaling-up activities · transfer of skills beyond just immediate partners, but also to other stakeholders who provide ongoing support to our partners when funding ends. · legitimacy, by responding to local need and establishing a local mandate for TREE AID · supporting and developing small community-based organisations (CBOs). · influencing local policy 4 What are the partner organisations supported by TREE AID? These are the organisations selected to implement poverty alleviation work in Africa. They are all African. Most are Community-Based Organisations (CBOs), usually based among the villages where they are working. A few are Non-Governmental Orgnaisations (NGOs), and might have an office in the national or regional capital. The NGOs will often employ staff from the villages where they are supporting work. The main common factor across NGO and CBO staff is that they have a higher standard of and relevant education, often to degree level and beyond, and they are using this advantage to benefit their village communities. Projects benefit from their community standing and significant local knowledge. This is very much the case with our own staff, whose siblings are often employed as professionals and who could earn more and not work as hard in similar roles.
We find out the extent of needs and, where necessary, we support the villagers in restoring their project. We would, if needed, link them to the relevant organisations who can provide emergency relief, but so far this has not been necessary. Our own trust deed only allows us to fund long-term work, helping villagers become more resilient to such disasters. Trees survive when other crops fail and so provide foods that will tide communities through the lean months. With TREE AID support, in particular through our forthcoming food programme, we will ensure that they can produce more food through agroforestry and improved farming to minimise the risk of food shortage, and that they can preserve and store food effectively. In addition, income generation will provide back-up funds with which to buy food. 6 How do the communities fit into the whole project process? We think it is important that our strategy is driven out of their needs. Partner organisations participate in TREE AID Strategy workshops, representing villagers' key problems and priorities. They will then seek feedback from villagers on workshop outcomes, which will in turn be fed-back to TREE AID and significantly influence our funding strategy. For example, all four strands of our current Community Forestry Livelihoods; forest management and access, income, food and medicines, were priorities that the villagers themselves identified. The challenge for us to is to how to achieve the greatest potential for their ideas. In terms of individual project development, communities identify their problems at the outset and what the solutions are and define activities to realise these. A series of discussions, using methods that ensure the widest participation and input from the whole community, are used to determine problems and identify solutions. Sometimes, partners may suggest options to villagers. TREE AID input is added during the application process, where it will be in dialogue with the community through the partner organisations representing them. This is how an individual project is designed. Where possible, beneficiary input is vital to project reporting, evaluation and lesson learning and community participation is an ongoing process. Key themes from project visit reports by our programme staff feed into TREE AID's strategy, policy and processes.
A lot of organisations have been promoting carbon offsetting as a fundraising technique. However, this is not a focus for our work and the complicated monitoring requirements could divert us from our charitable mission - to alleviate poverty through trees. We do not place restrictions on how people in Africa use their trees but we are monitoring developments in schemes such as the Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism, to assess whether there are opportunities for the villagers with whom we work to benefit directly from trading carbon credits. If the scale of our work is sufficient to make carbon trading for them viable, we will then present the options to our partners for them to discuss these with the village groups who we support. The key point is that the carbon sequestration is another tree product through which villagers might generate income for their wider development needs such as wells, a school, solar lighting etc. At present, if our investigation suggests such potential, the decision as to whether to participate in any carbon sequestration will be with the villagers themselves, with TREE AID possibly acting as a facilitator between them and the services and traders to enable them to access such income. |
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