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Self Help Groups
Tree is Life supports self-help groups composed mainly
of mixed farmers to start income generating activities
especially those that also contribute positively to
environmental conservation.
There is a very close relationship between environmental
degradation and poverty. Apart from training and awareness
on environmental issues, communities require alternative
sources of livelihood in order to dissuade them from
destructive activities such as unsustainable charcoal
burning. |
| Community
members during a sharing session |
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A training curriculum has been developed in which
several topics are trained. Members are trained on nursery
practices and assisted to start tree nurseries. Seedlings
from these nurseries are sold to members of the public
to generate income for the group. The groups are also
trained on sustainable agricultural practices and institutional
strengthening. Follow up visits are conducted
once or twice a month to see if what they have learnt
in training sessions is being applied. Groups that have
received the maximum possible training under the programme
are usually phased out and replaced with other new ones. |
| A group working at their
tree nursery |
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Due to a limited capacity, Tree is Life is not able
to work with all groups that sent in their requests. There
are several groups that have been put on a waiting list
and are brought aboard once an
assessment of existing groups against the organizations
capacity indicates that they can be supported for instance
after facing out. Some groups have also assisted to start
micro-eco friendly income-generating projects. A thorough
scrutiny is done to ascertain proposal that can be funded.
In the past projects such as fish farming, high value
fruit farming and bee keeping among others have been supported.
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