Medicine for Mali's program to provide scholarships and school supplies to high-performing girls will continue despite the conflict in northern Mali.

Recently, the African country of Mali has made international headlines as French and Malian forces seek to oust Islamist rebels from the northern part of the country. The conflict in the north has disrupted economic development projects throughout the country, including for Aid for Africa member Medicine for Mali, which works in Mali’s southwest.  

An important component of Medicine for Mali’s work is the annual trip of some twenty volunteers–primarily doctors, nurses, and medical students—from Des Moines, Iowa, and other parts of the U.S.—to seven remote villages near the town of Siby.  These volunteers provide medical care, train health volunteers, and restock medical supplies at local clinics.  Most of the 8,000 people they serve are subsistence farmers.

During the first medical trips it became apparent that the Malian villagers had long-term needs that Medicine for Mali could help them meet.  These included access to ongoing medical care, clean water, improved education, and small business development, according to Jill DeVore, a member of Medicine for Mali’s board and a participant in many annual trips. 

Medicine for Mali now supports teacher training and girls education through scholarships that help keep girls in school. It also provides small loans, primarily to purchase seeds and livestock to increase family incomes through farming.  Seventy percent of the loan recipients are women. Local volunteer health workers, who were trained during previous medical missions, monitor village health and provide advice.  Vaccination programs provide tetanus shots to children and pregnant women.

Although the fight to push the militants out of northern Mali appears successful, the Iowa group will suspend its annual medical trip to Mali this year. Abdoulaye Bagayoko, a Malian physician who has overseen on-the-ground operations since 2005, said that villagers are less concerned about the rebels than they are about the cancellation of the annual medical mission. But this year, funds from the U.S-based charity will pay for a medical team from Bamako, Mali’s capital, to travel to the southwest to provide some of the services usually offered by the U.S. team.  And because Medicine for Mali ensured that the long-term education and health programs are run by Malians, these services will not be disrupted.

Find Mali on the map on our Where We Work page in the upper left part of the countries in green. Roll over and click on the country to learn which other members work there.

Agriculture is the economic driver in rural areas of Sub Saharan Africa.

More than three decades ago, the United Nations named October 16 World Food Day in honor of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on that day in 1945.  World Food Day provides a spotlight on the global problem of hunger, which is not a problem of too little food in the world, but of poverty and lack of access to food.  In 2012 that light is shining on Sub Saharan Africa, where, according to FAO, there are 64 million more chronically undernourished people today than there were 20 years ago. 

As expected, the reasons for this increase are complex and include politics, economics, and injustice. But through research, there is a better understanding of underlying evidence about how we might be able to start to reduce hunger in the countries of Africa. 

More than half of the poor in Sub Saharan Africa live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.  A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute finds that while improving overall economic growth is important to reducing poverty in African countries, improving agriculture has the largest impact on reducing poverty rates, particularly when the focus is on staple crops like maize, wheat and cassava.  Because agriculture is the economic driver in rural areas, improving agriculture not only reduces hunger, it reduces poverty.

A number of Aid for Africa members focus on agricultural development in the region, including EcoAgricuture Partners, which is working in East Africa to identify strategies for landscapes that produce food and support livelihoods while protecting environmental diversity, and ICIPE, based in Kenya, which works to improve agriculture and the environment throughout Africa through the study of the benefits and harms of insects. Rural farmers are using small irrigation pumps developed by KickStart International to produce crops year-round, and the Earth Institute works throughout Africa to ensure the sustainability of agriculture, clean water access, and nutrition. Finally, the vast majority of microfinance projects funded by Aid for Africa organizations in rural areas are for sustainable agriculture. We have learned that through agriculture, there is great leverage to improve the lives of  those living in the region.

 As part of our commitment to African agriculture, Aid for Africa has created the Aid for Africa Endowment for Food and Sustainable Agriculture at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition in Boston, Massachusetts. The Endowment supports graduate research on food security and poverty reduction in Sub Saharan Africa. Through the Endowment, Aid for Africa is strengthening its focus on expanding sustainable agriculture, building capacity to solve agricultural problems in Sub Saharan Africa, and supporting our outreach on African issues.

Aid for Africa Scholar Katrina Brink helped design a project to improve the nutrition of Tanzanian women and infant children.

As the summer draws to a close, Katrina Brink, the first Aid for Africa Scholar supported through the Aid for Africa Endowment for Food and Sustainable Agriculture at the Friedman School at Tufts University, is wrapping up her work to improve nutrition in northern Tanzania though gardening and poultry farming. Brink, a master’s student at the Friedman School, spent three months working with Helen Keller International (HKI) in Mwanza, Tanzania, near Lake Victoria. HKI is the oldest international organization devoted to preventing blindness and reducing malnutrition in the world. 

Brink worked with HKI, Tanzanian agricultural extension workers, and community volunteers on a project to improve nutrition both for women of child bearing age and children under two.  While agricultural extension officers explained how to create and maintain gardens and raise chickens to the participants, HKI provided the women and families in the project with nutrition education.  “My role was to come up with a plan to monitor and evaluate the project to help determine if it is achieving its goals,” Brink said. 

Brink explained that in the dozen villages that are part of the project, the usual diet mainly of maize and cassava does not include enough of the nutrients found in vitamin-rich vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, and sweet potatoes.  The project will also help women improve their incomes through poultry farming, which will allow mothers to purchase food with more nutritional value for their children. “There is a high level of malnutrition and basic nutrition knowledge is lacking,” she said. “The program is trying to address the malnutrition issue from several angles and come up with sustainable solutions that will be able to continue on after the program ends.”  

Research on whether development projects meet their goals is essential if projects are to be improved and replicated in other areas.  The final evaluation of the project will occur in the summer of 2014 if all goes as scheduled, according to Brink.  “Through the use of this plan, they [HKI] hope to identify challenges in the field and improve upon implementation,” she said.

Brink will begin the final year of her master’s degree in the agriculture, food, and environment program at the Friedman School in September.

“I am so grateful to the Aid for Africa Endowment for providing me the opportunity to go to Tanzania,” she said. “For years I have wanted to contribute to an agricultural development project in a developing country.  Aid for Africa made it possible for me to go and do this work. 

 I have a deep appreciation for the beauty of the people I met–their vibrant clothing, big smiles, friendly greetings, and thank yous for the gardens.”

Agriculture landscape near Kijabe, Kenya. Planted trees create habitat and corridors for biodiversity and help protect water sources.

Farmers versus environmentalists. Rural food alliances versus tourism. Ranchers versus private industry.  Can we build alliances between them in Africa to increase food production? Boost rural incomes? Restore degraded land and rivers? Aid for Africa member EcoAgriculture Partners, says, “Yes, we can.”

EcoAgriculture Partners is part of Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative, a coalition that seeks to avert planet-wide food and environmental crises through a “whole landscape” approach. According to Sara Scherr, the president of EcoAgriculture Partners, “the world is stuck in a vicious cycle that locks farmers, governments, companies and communities in the pursuit of short-term, narrowly defined solutions to food, energy and water conflicts as they emerge.” 

This broad coalition of agriculture, environmental and rural development organizations includes such high-impact organizations as Conservation International and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.  Members believe that the “whole landscape” approach can produce long-term results, and in a new report, chronicles some 300 cases of success, including many in Sub Saharan Africa. 

For example—on the shores of Kenya’s scenic Lake Naivasha, flower farms, farm and livestock production, and wildlife tourism have let to the overuse of water and land that threaten the lake’s unique ecosystem.  But today, local government, nongovernmental organizations, commercial flower growers, small scale farmers, tribes that gaze livestock and Kenyan community organizations are cooperating to limit runoff and enable the sustainable use of the lake ecosystem. 

According to the coalition’s report, key advances in food production and environmental stewardship made in the past two decades have contributed to successes.  These include farming that uses minimal tilling, incorporating trees on farm, combining crop and livestock production, and decreasing fertilizer and water use trough precision application. 

In Kenya, agriculture practices with reduced tilling increased crop 60 percent and nearly eliminated surface water runoff and soil loss. In Malawi, incorporating trees on maize farms, known as agroforestry, increased maize yields by 280 percent and increasing the supply of fuelwood, reduced greenhouse gases and sustained hundreds of native plant species. 

Just last week, the coalition took its message to the UN Sustainability Conference in Rio de Janeiro.  Feeding an additional 2 billion people by 2050 while protecting natural resources will require an increase in food production of 100 percent in developing countries.  Can we do it? The coalition says, “Yes, we can.” 

The okapi is found only in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

African wildlife often conjures images of rhinos, zebras, or elephants. But there are hundreds of animal species that call Africa home.  For instance, did you know that wolves are native to parts of Africa? Or that the okapi is a relative of the giraffe, but has the stripes of a zebra? As we observe World Environment Day this month, let’s remember that truly healthy environments have many kinds of wild biodiversity, including the lesser-known species of fauna and flora. 

Several Aid for Africa members support wildlife preservation of well-known and lesser-known species.  The Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) supports independent conservationists who work actively with local communities to protect endangered wildlife and preserve their natural habitats. It supports on-the-ground conservation efforts for iconic lions, elephants, and cheetahs, but also for the painted (wild) dog, the Ethiopian wolf, and the okapi. 

What’s an okapi? It’s the only surviving relative of the giraffe,and lives only in the forested areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WCN supports efforts to protect the okapi that are focused on communities living near okapi habitat.  These efforts include identifying better farming practices that maintain healthy ecosystems and educating community members about biodiversity conservation. For example, to reduce hunting pressure on okapis, new fish-farming programs supplement animal protein in local diets.

The Ethiopian wolf is the only wolf species found in Africa. It is the most endangered canine on earth.

The Ethiopian wolf is the only species of wolf in Africa, as well as the rarest and most endangered canine in the world. Only about 500 Ethiopian wolves remain in the rugged Ethiopian highlands.   WCN supports protection efforts that include monitoring wolf populations, vaccinating domestic dogs that spread disease, and educating local residents and school children through school environmental clubs, tree planting, and camping trips.

The WCN uses innovative strategies to protect native species on the ground by involving local community members in their projects. Ultimately, their conservationists want to be able to withdraw from the regions where they now work.  This will require developing the capacity of local communities to carry on their conservation work using strategies that are culturally compatible and meet the evolving needs of all concerned, including the wolves, okapis, and painted dogs – oh my!

World Bicycle Relief’s “Trees for Bikes”A program provides a bike for every 150 saplings planted.

Did you know that on April 22, 1970—the first Earth Day—20 million Americans demonstrated from coast to coast in the United States to call for a healthy, sustainable environment? For many, it marked the beginning of the environmental movement.  The brainchild of Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, who was concerned about mainstream America’s lack of concern about air and water pollution, it eventually led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

The principles set forth that first Earth Day are now celebrated throughout the world, including in Sub Saharan Africa. For example, throughout Zimbabwe, there will be faith-based awareness seminars, clean-up campaigns, and an Earth Day-themed concert. The African Youth Initiative on Climate Change, an umbrella group of students and youth groups, is organizing African youth participation in the climate change debate at the national and international levels.

Aid for Africa members are playing a key role in fostering a more sustainable Sub Saharan Africa, focusing on the goals of the first Earth Day—ensuring a sustainable environment, clean water, and protecting endangered species. World Bicycle Relief has initiated a “Trees for Bikes” program that provides African children with bikes in exchange for planting tree saplings. charity: water has funded 6,185 water projects, mostly in Africa, that provide clean water for communities. Solar Cookers International has enabled more than 30,000 Sub Saharan families to cook using the sun’s energy rather than wood fuel, reducing air pollution, fostering better health, and preserving forests.  Panthera continues to protect African lions, cheetah and leopards through programs with local communities.

About 70 percent of the people of Africa derive their livelihoods from agriculture.

While many pin their hopes on technology, others suggest there are limits to how much agricultural technology—drought-tolerant seeds, for instance—will help. Mark Hertsgaard of Slate.com examined this question and found that “better seeds alone” are not the answer.  Instead, feeding the world under climate change will require a broader strategy.

Sara Scherr, president of Aid for Africa member EcoAgricuture Partners, agrees that using the model of developing a few seeds that can be grown on a massive scale will not work.  “We absolutely have to develop seeds for improved and climate-adapted varieties, but we also need to increase the diversity of seeds.” A broader approach is necessary, she says.

EcoAgriculture Partners, which helps develop landscapes that produce food and support family livelihoods while protecting environmental diversity, brought together some of the world’s leading experts in agriculture and the environment to address these issues last month in Nairobi.  Representatives from the world’s leading agriculture and environmental organizations, farmer organizations, policymaking and scientific communities, and consumer groups discussed new approaches that integrate food production, biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, and rural livelihoods and are supported by institutions and policymakers. Practices that raise crop yields, and boost water supplies and soil fertility are likely to be important parts of the solution.

Our goal, said Scherr, is “to catalyze a shift towards integrated agricultural and rural land use strategies [from the] the farmer level to the national policy level.” Learn more about the initiative Landscapes for People, Food and Nature here. 

Water is our most basic need. Everything starts with water access, including how much food someone can grow or raise. A game by One Drop lets you build a meal and shows you how many liters of water were used to produce it. The results will shock you.

The point is this: the need for water goes well beyond having enough to keep someone alive. Easy access to water means better hygiene, more crops, and more hours to devote to other work and education. On World Water Day we come together to figure out the best ways to make that happen. Every year people come together looking for possible solutions to the water crisis that endangers the lives of 400 million people in Sub Saharan Africa alone.

The good news is that it is working; in Sub Saharan Africa access to safe drinking water has improved 22 percent since 1990. But there is still a long way to go. Every 14 seconds someone, usually a child, dies due to inadequate or unsafe drinking water.

All Aid for Africa members face water challenges everyday.  Several Aid for Africa members are meeting this challenge head-on. At The Earth Institute at Columbia University, researchers are developing solutions for water conservation as it pertains to agriculture. Through their water projects, charity: water has made safe water accessible for more than 1 million people in Sub Saharan Africa. Last year World Hope International drilled its 700th well , bringing freshwater to 500,000 people. A Glimmer of Hope Foundation has funded more than 2,000 water projects in Ethiopia alone, made all the more important because at any given time, more than half of Ethiopia’s 75 million people are suffering from an unnecessary water-related disease.

Learn more about World Water Day and check out this video from charity: water, which highlights the amazing differences one well can bring to a village.

For non-oil producing African countries, agriculture provides much of Africa’s economic activity and 50 percent of its exports.  About 70 percent of Africa’s people derive their livelihoods from agriculture, according to the World Bank.  All across Africa farming takes place on small plots and the farmers, mostly women, cannot afford the equipment necessary to farm efficiently.  Water comes mostly from increasingly variable rains, and crop-destroying diseases have not yet been controlled. The typical African farmer produces enough to feed her family, with little excess to take to market and limited means to get it there.  In rural areas, diets are poor, and malnutrition remains a widespread problem.

Africa’s agriculture has always been vulnerable to drought, disease, and pests. Today, these problems are about to worsen. Scientists agree that climate change will lead to increased drought and higher temperatures that will negatively affect agriculture in Africa, particularly its most important staple crops– millet, cassava, rice (West Africa), maize, and bananas and plantain. To bring us full circle to chocolate: cacao trees grow best within certain temperature ranges and thus are also threatened.

Aid for Africa believes that advances in African agriculture must not cease or reverse direction in the face of these looming threats. Much is being done.  Scientists continue to work with farmers to improve yields, fight disease, and increase production.  Women are becoming more adept at using mirco-loans to finance their small agricultural businesses. Home and school vegetable gardens, which supply dietary nutrients that are not available from staple crops, are increasing in number.  To preserve the sustainability of production systems, scientists are now looking at the diverse agricultural landscapes that incorporate ecosystems that preserve watersheds and wild biodiversity. We continue to report on these developments in blogs and on our member pages.

As part of our commitment to African agriculture, Aid for Africa has created the Aid for Africa Endowment for Food and Sustainable Agriculture at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, Massachusetts. The Endowment will support graduate research on food security and poverty reduction in Sub Saharan Africa. Through the Endowment, Aid for Africa will strengthen its focus on expanding sustainable agriculture, building capacity to solve agricultural problems in Sub Saharan Africa and supporting our outreach on African issues.

So when you enjoy your Valentine chocolate, remember–chances are that the cocoa it contains came from Africa, where farming is critical to families, countries, and development. It’s Africa’s Valentine to you, with love.

Dave Deppner, Director of Trees for the Future, talks about the importance of tree planting at a dinner attended by the President of Ethiopia as Grace Deppner looks on.

In our previous blog post on the 2011 International Year of the Forest we highlighted the importance of forests in Africa, which account for the livelihoods of more than half of Africa’s population according to experts. Trees for the Future (TREES) has been instrumental in maintaining this synergy by helping people living on degraded land improve their lives through environmentally sound development projects using trees.

It is with great sadness that we announce that Dave Deppner, who founded TREES 22 years ago, recently lost his battle with cancer and passed away. With the passing last month of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, we have lost two champions of the environmental movement whose compassion helped improve the lives of millions of impoverished people.

The roots of Trees for the Future can be traced back to the 1970s when Dave and Grace, his wife, volunteered with local farmers in the Phillippines. There they witnessed first-hand that planting trees on a wide scale could solve many of the developing world’s problems including deforestation, fuel and food shortages for people and livestock, and overall poverty. Dave found that the key was to sustainably harvest fast growing tree species that could be planted at high-densities and produce enough wood to meet the energy needs of rural populations. These trees also infused agricultural lands with fresh nutrients which slowed erosion and improved crop yields.

Today, TREES operates in 23 countries providing technical knowledge on agroforestry, reforestation, and sustainable development, as well as planting materials. In Africa they have worked with more than 300,000 families in nearly 12,000 communities to plant more than 20 million trees. To help keep Dave’s dream alive, TREES has created the Dave Deppner Legacy Fund.

It is ironic that the world lost two champions of reforestation and sustainable development during this International Year of the Forest.  It is reassuring to know that the work they started, which has benefited millions of people and improved our planet, will continue and grow.