An Overview Of Our Solution
Food insecurity, lack of economic opportunity, civil conflict, and mass migration are often inter-linked problems. Landscape degradation and dwindling farm production are central factors for millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa. The EverGreen Youth Corps (EYC) will build hope in rural areas through training and employing young people to restore damaged farmland and re-establish a vibrant agrarian economy. EYC will place interns with NGOs, for ongoing land restoration programs. Corps members will be paid interns receiving training in agroforestry and community outreach. The interns will coordinate youth and women’s groups from local schools and churches. These groups will learn EverGreen techniques and apply them on local farms. Farmers will receive advice, training, labor, seed, seedlings, and ongoing support.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Africa
General Information
Organization type
Sin fines de lucro/No Gubernamental
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Deserts
Grasslands
Population impacted
Thousands
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
Potentially millions of hectares.
Production quantity
Unlimited
People employed
Hundreds
Solution
Describe your solution
Agroforestry practices including fertilizer trees mixed with annual crops and Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) have been shown to restore land while improving food security and livelihoods in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, Senegal, Mali, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. The most dramatic case is the 5 million hectares of farmland restored in Niger with FMNR. Niger has formally committed to restoring a total of 3 million hectares more land by 2030 under the AFR100 Initiative. The EYC interns will work within the restoration framework set out by funders and NGOs to facilitate outreach on the village level to ensure involvement of at-risk populations and deepen the communities’ commitment to long-term ecosystem health. The focus of agroforestry is different from reforestation in that it promotes crop and income diversification, and creating landscapes that are less vulnerable to clearing because the standing crops are of sufficient value to protect. These agroforestry practices are inherently low external input, low cost, organic, and supportive of wildlife populations and ecosystem services.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
EYC interns will receive a stipend, medical services, food and lodging, and training opportunities beyond agriculture including nutrition, computer skills, accounting, public speaking, and group consensus building skills. EYC graduates will receive educational certification improving employment prospects with government agencies, NGOs, and the private sector, as well as individual entrepreneurship. After a year of service as interns, the successful Corps members will be eligible for business training and financing to start their own enterprise. These local businesses will include nurseries, seed suppliers, crop and livestock marketing, and value-added services for a wide array of agricultural crops. Examples of such businesses include timber and fire wood marketing, honey production, Moringa nutrition powder, shea butter production, and fruit and nut marketing. Graduates of the program will be eligible for further training and certification to become EverGreen Trainers. EverGreen Trainers will teach the workshops to new interns, youth groups, and farmers. They will also organize village farmer-to-farmer groups so that local innovation and enthusiasm will spread EverGreen techniques and seeds. These farmers and trainers will lead the scaling up of EverGreen Agriculture to more and more communities. Since the majority of farmers and laborers in African agriculture are women and girls, the majority of both EYC interns and participating farmers will be female. Workshops and trainings will be specifically designed for the needs and challenges faced by women and girls, and outreach to local youth will focus on encouraging and retaining the participation of young women.
External connections
Present and future funding agencies include the European Commission, UNDP, UNEP, the Global Environment Facility, and the Green Climate Fund. NGO partners include World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam, and the community based organizations they partner with. The World Agroforestry Centre, World Resources Institute, and IFPRI are research and policy partners. The departments of agriculture, environment, and forestry of participating nations will also be involved. All of these partners are committed to large scale land restoration targets using EverGreen Agriculture practices as ways to restore farm and grazing lands under the Bonn Challenge. We believe the Youth Corps will be a vital link in this effort to bring these practices to the widest audience and ensure they take root in local traditions.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
Millions of sub-Saharan African farms are small holdings of two hectares or less in marginal lands. Poor soils, arid and semi-arid conditions, steep terrain, and lack of market infrastructure are the challenges fostering poverty, food insecurity, and lack of resilience to climate change. EverGreen Agriculture and agroforestry land restoration techniques work to lessen these challenges while simultaneously improving wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Increasing family incomes, growing fuelwood on farms, and diversifying diets reduce the pressure on forests and natural areas. The ecological zones where EverGreen Agriculture is appropriate range from the arid Sahel of Niger to the humid hills of Rwanda.
Describe the context in which you are operating
EYC will operate within the EverGreen Agriculture scaling up programs funded by the European Commission and the United Nations Development program in eight eastern and southern African Nations. The funding will be distributed through NGO partners including World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, and Oxfam. EYC will utilize the long histories and established infrastructure of the NGOs who have offices and programming throughout Africa. EYC will also harness the strength of local social networks through schools and faith communities to leverage these groups’ commitment to local development and as respected members of their communities. Utilizing pre-existing infrastructure will enable EYC to be a small organization with big impact.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
The key to landscape restoration over large areas of Africa is to target innovations that simultaneously improve ecological resilience and improve farm production and incomes. Plants, animals, and farm families must be strengthened together. EverGreen’s approach promotes planting and/or coppicing leguminous tree and shrub species that add nitrogen and organic matter to the soil without depleting ground water reserves, which often happens with reforestation species. Adding nutrients to the soil from roots and leaf fall, and protecting the soil from wind and water erosion allows a diversity of plants to re-establish themselves and provide habitat for native and migratory animal species. Large scale agroforestry improves watershed water retention returning flow to streams and raising lake levels. The fertilizer tree species most widely used with FMNR and agroforestry are Faidherbia albida and Gliricidia sepium, and Vitellaria paradoxa, or shea tree, and Moringa oleifera for food and market.
Language(s)
Swahili, English
Water
Improved soil water retention, reduced flooding and drought, increased water table.
Food Security/Nutrition
Diversified diets and crops, more fodder for livestock, greater income for purchased food.
Economic/Sustainable Development
Increased crop production without purchased agricultural inputs. Self-reliance for fuelwood. Production for local markets.
Climate
Substantial carbon sequestration in soils and above ground biomass, tree shade reduces local temperatures, regional rainfall increases with large-scale restoration.
Sustainability
The EYC intern program will depend on grant funding but is intended to improve local capacity for farmer innovation that will continue long after EYC involvement. If the program proves successful, it could become incorporated into NGO programming budgets and would therefore no longer need separate funding.
Return on investment
Small-scale agroforestry programs have been promoted for decades at varying costs and returns. The FMNR restoration programs average US$30 per hectare, which is by far the lowest cost per hectare of all reforestation and agricultural restoration practices.
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
All of the NGO and multi-lateral agencies partnering for restoration in Africa also operate in Latin America and Asia. There are many examples of successful small-scale agroforestry programs in dozens of counties that could be scaled up. The inclusion of agricultural and range lands, along with forests, in the restoration targets of the Bonn Challenge and the SDGs have spurred multi-lateral agencies and participating countries to realize the need for sustainable, biological solutions that are focused on smallholders. There is also a recognition that non-market, subsistence solutions are most relevant to decrease hunger and malnutrition.