Trees help lift people out of extreme poverty and hunger by providing food, an income and protecting their environment. TREE AID works with locally-based teams in the drylands of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Niger and the isolated areas of Ethiopia. Communities here have been transformed by trees and the work done to build their knowledge, skill base and self-reliance.
TREE AID’s work addresses four main areas of life:
Providing reliable sources of food
In the areas TREE AID works one child dies of hunger every two minutes, so they are growing trees that can provide fruit, nuts and even some natural medicines. Unlike crops, these trees survive droughts so they can produce vital food and nutrition all year.
Earning an income
Without money, health care and education are out of reach. TREE AID enables villagers to turn their tree products such as honey, shea butter and mangoes into an income with business skills and productivity training so they can pay for other food, education and health.
Protecting and improving the environment
Trees help to make the land fertile by improving soil quality, reducing loss of land from winds and flooding and protecting fragile ecosystems. Simply, they even provide shade from the heat for people, wildlife and crops.
Defending people’s rights
The trees are of no use unless communities can harvest them so defending people’s rights to access the trees they rely upon for survival is essential. TREE AID helps to agree rules for shared forests, which become a group interest.
Your old car donation with Charity Car, could help TREE AID to continue this vital, cost-effective work. The money raised from your old wheels could help the charity provide trees, seedlings, tools and the training needed to grow and care for the trees and the skills needed to earn a sustainable income.
