Welcome to the Kijani Blog – Seeds of Knowledge!
Here we share about all things agroforestry, tree planting, seedling care, our partner farmers, and our incredible staff. Check here every month to learn about our new favorite tree species, or hear an update on our tree planting progress. Enter your email to be notified when a new blog is posted!
Blog #1 – February 6th, 2022
It all starts with the people.
Uganda is one of the youngest, and fastest-growing countries in the world, population wise. Unfortunately, this means there is also an unemployment crisis. With 85% of the population under the age of 30, and lack of formal sector jobs, many youth struggle to find meaningful, dignified work. At Kijani, we plant trees in partnership with local farmers to cultivate their energy in the form of fuelwood and charcoal. These farmers are all over northern Uganda, in rural communities not easily accessible. Finding qualified people to work in these areas is often a challenge, due to both the rural nature and technical skills needed.
In order to help us with this large task, we recruit youth from our partner communities to participate in our internship program. We bring them to our 400 acre research and development farm where they go through a three month training program. In this program they learn everything about tree nursery management, how to work with the community, how to produce sustainable charcoal… basically Kijani 101. Upon successful completion of the program they have the opportunity to work with us, providing them with a full-time job. We have had 66 wonderful young interns participate in the program to date, and 87% of them were hired for full-time positions with Kijani!
Our first cohort completed their training over the summer, and were deployed to their field sites for further training with our District Coordinators. After that, they officially became Kijani Coordinators! Since then, they’ve been hard at work in the communities, mobilizing new groups and providing support as we all prepare for the planting season. So far, they’ve mobilized over 500 groups, representing thousands of farmers interested in planting trees. And they’re not done yet – we have an ambitious goal of planting five million trees this year. We couldn’t do it without our Coordinators, and we are so thankful for them, and proud of the employment opportunities we are generating as we grow.
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