WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY – 5 JUNE 2024
PRESS RELEASE – for immediate release (download the paper here)
Inades-Formation Tanzania commemorates the World Environment Day by engaging people with disabilities
Dodoma, Tuesday, June 4, 2024—As Tanzania commemorates the World Environment Day (WED) on Wednesday, the 5th of June 2024, we Inades-Formation Tanzania (IFTz), Bread for the World (BftW), and Vi Agroforestry (ViA) have organized a series of environmental protection events that involve people with all kinds of disabilities in a one-day tree planting campaign. The aim of the campaign to be conducted in Kondoa and Chemba districts is to create public awareness on the need to involve every living person in the preservation of the ecosystems. The theme for this year’s WED is: Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.
At the national level, the NGO and its international partners will participate in a week-long exhibition taking place at the Jakaya Kikwete Convention Centre in Dodoma City. The participation of people with disabilities—long-term physical, mental, intellectual or emotional disabilities—in reforestation is a deliberate sign that land and environmental improvement is everyone’s responsibility as long as they inhale oxygen.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 1.3 billion people—about 16% of the global population—currently experience significant disability. This number is increasing due in part to population ageing and an increase in the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases, that are sometimes related to changes in the climate. “We will involve the Kondoa and Chemba communities as well as their local government authorities in a mass tree planting campaign,” said the Managing Director of IFTz Mr. Mbarwa Kivuyo. He continued: “The Germany-based BftW and the Swedish ViA are supporting us to implement climate resilience interventions in 19 villages of Kondoa and Chemba districts.”
The BftW is supporting a three-year project titled “adaptation to climate change for improved livelihoods in semi-arid areas” while ViA is financing a three-year project called “agroforestry for sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity” in four villages of Kondoa District. The two projects work hand in hand with communities to restore land and improve resilience to drought in the semi-arid districts.
Inades-Formation Tanzania has procured 1,500 tree seedlings of different species that will be planted around the homes, public institutions—10 schools, 5 health centres, 5 churches, 10 mosques—and near natural water springs in the two districts. Our intention is to use the climax of the WED commemoration to demonstrate our commitment to land restoration, halting desertification and building inclusive drought resilience systems.
To make it an inclusive undertaking, IFTz will engage people with disabilities in the tree planting campaign to be carried out in Kondoa and Chemba Districts. The slogan “Our Land. Our Future. We are #GenerationRestoration” calls for everyone alive to become part of the global movement toward saving the land from degradation, desertification, and drought. The partnership between IFTz and the two international non-governmental organizations are contributing to the attainment of district target of planting 1.5 million trees per year. The project has helped farmers to adopt various technologies that mitigate the effects of climate change. Technologies such as rainwater harvesting, production and preservation of local seeds that resist drought and postharvest losses management have helped households to survive during harsh times. The integrated use of various agroecological practices promoted by the project enables 859 farmers to confidently select practices that best suit their local conditions.
About Inades-Formation Tanzania
Inades-Formation Tanzania, also known as the African Institute for Social and Economic Development, is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that works for socio-economic advancement of disadvantaged and marginalized rural communities (women, men and youth) organized mainly into voluntary groups. It was established in Tanzania since 1989 as a branch of Inades-Formation Kenya, and later in 1994 it became a fully autonomous organization delivering training to farmers through direct outreach programmes and by offering correspondence courses across Tanzania.
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About Bread for the World
BftW is a programme of help initiated by the protestant churches in Germany. It was set up in Berlin in 1959 and since then has been the responsibility of the “Diakonische Werk”, the Social Service Agency of the Protestant Church in Germany. Over average, BftW donates through Inades-Formation Tanzania over seven hundred million Tanzania Shillings annually to support adaptation to climate change initiatives in Kondoa and Chemba Districts.
About Vi Agroforestry
Vi Agroforestry is a Swedish development organisation fighting poverty and climate change together. What started as a tree planting initiative in 1983, is today an agroforestry expert organisation working through local partnerships to run holistic agricultural development projects in East Africa and beyond. Since 1983, Vi Agroforestry has contributed to the planting of over 155 million trees.
For any enquiries, contact
Mbarwa Kivuyo – Managing Director,
Inades-Formation Tanzania,
Area C, Dodoma
Tel. +255 (0) 715302486
Email: mbarwa.kivuyo@inadesfo.net
