For the 2020-2021 planting season…
Wells for Zoë engaged many communities to plant seedlings grown in nearby nurseries on land chosen by them in their locale. We did this with the funding of Ecosia and One Tree Planted, donors from the Plant for the Planet / Trillion Tree Campaign website and donors directly from our website.
We started the project with the aim of rewarding community members by distributing fruit tree seedlings grown at the WfZ Organic Sustainable farm at Lusangazi, near Mzuzu. However, we quickly realised that transport of these seedlings was difficult and that the people wanted a greater incentive – money – so they could safely live if they removed the slog of daily sustenance-living to plant trees. They are poor, very very poor. If they plant trees en masse for their community on the scale that we want them to they don’t get to plant their maize (also done in the planting season) and they will go hungry. A huge reverse incentive! So we employed them and fed them while they worked and we planted millions of trees!
And they will next year as well!
