Founded 1987 | Operating income | |
Type International Development and Environmental organisation Headquarters Brunswick Court, Brunswick Square, Bristol United Kingdom
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa Area served Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Niger Key people Patrons: Sir Crispin Tickell, Joanna Lumley, Zoë Wanamaker, Jonathan Dimbleby, Hilary Benn, Jonathan Porritt.
Chair: Sophie Churchill OBE
Chief Executive Officer: Dr Philip Goodwin | ||
TREE AID is an international development organisation which focuses on unlocking the potential of trees to reduce poverty and protect the environment in Africa. It is a registered charity in the UK. TREE AID has offices in Bristol,UK, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in Segou, Mali and in Tamale, Ghana. It currently has programmes running in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Niger.
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History and philosophy
TREE AID was established in 1987 by a group of foresters in response to the famine in Africa brought to public attention by Band Aid and Live Aid. Its aim was to provide a long-term solution to the challenges of poverty and environmental decline once the emergency relief efforts ended. TREE AID’s founders – inspired by the Chipko and Greenbelt movement in India and Kenya respectively - believed that community forestry could ensure that people in rural Africa’s drylands were less vulnerable to drought and famine in future. Drawing on the ideas of thinkers and practitioners such as E F Schumacher and Robert Chambers, TREE AID’s work is informed by the notion that small scale development, appropriate to local culture and environment that puts poor people’s needs first, is essential to the success and sustainability of any intervention to alleviate poverty. This thinking still informs the charity's work today.
Focus of work
TREE AID's work seeks to link up an understanding of the technical aspects of natural resource management with a deep understanding of social context, motivation and community dynamics. The organisations' work also has a strong focus on addressing institutional and policy constraints. The TREE AID programme is focused on four themes:
Achievements
TREE AID has ensured that 7.2 million trees have been planted across Africa with hundreds of thousands more trees have naturally regenerated through improvements in natural resource management. Over 500,000 villagers have benefitted from improved incomes from tree products meaning better health, education and life chances. Over 1,000,000 people have benefitted from improvements in soil and water conservation. In 2011/12 TREE AID worked with over 425 communities in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana and Mali directly working with 90,000 people. TREE AID's achievements
In 2011 TREE AID hosted the 8th International Dialogue on Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry in Ouagadougou as part of The Forests Dialogue [3], TFD Summary
Village Tree Enterprises
The Village Tree Enterprise projects work with local community groups to develop businesses from non-timber tree products such as seeds, nuts, fruits, leaves, flowers and fibers. The projects utilise indigenous trees which have been adapted to the arid climate of the region, and so present low risk and sustainable returns for small enterprise develop by poor rural families and particularly women.
The project works by helping villagers analyse and develop options for themselves, building on their existing knowledge of resources and markets. These enterprises provide long term solutions to alleviating poverty, whilst also encouraging sustainable management of natural forest resources which has a positive effect on the environment.