“Conservation and protection of species is one of the key objectives of Africa Wood Grow”

About us

The three entities under Africa Wood Grow work together with the local community on restoring the natural ecological balance in Sub-Saharan Africa, while also stimulating a forest economy. All entities support the local community through for example the supply of fences and seedlings, education and training, and installation of infrastructure like water tanks.

Moreover, Africa Wood Grow is thé holistic reforestation movement, meaning the local community is central in the process and vision. Correspondingly, a strong relationship built on trust has emerged between everyone involved. Without this relationship and cooperation the results would not have been so fruitful, as the three entities of Africa Wood Grow find it of great importance to work together and see the exchange of knowledge as a two way street.

Our journey

Africa Wood Grow first started from the initiative of Roeland Lelieveld and Daniel Muvali. They first met in the autumn of 2005 during their internship in Kenya. In this period, they saw several issues related to land degradation, which could be solved by planting trees and providing foliage to improve the soil and diminish erosion. As a result, Roeland and Daniel developed the desire to green the landscape and start a forestry project to support the region where few resources are in place. In order to do this, they first completed their studies, started to research and raise funds as well as setting personal savings aside. Then in 2010, they established Africa Wood Grow Limited by planting a private forest from their own savings.

A few years later, the local community joined and Africa Wood Grow Foundation and the Kamiti CBO emerged to support the community in every aspect of the process. Together the three entities have come a long way since. Over the years each has grown bigger and gained valuable board members, volunteers and employees. All share a similar vision to restore green the landscape and improve livelihoods where needed. Together they have come to where
Africa Wood Grow stands today!

“In the beginning, the land was dry and eroded, but then tree planting started. In ten years the world turned green again!” – Roeland Lelieveld & Daniel Muvali

Our values

Africa Wood Grow focuses on three main pillars, namely: creating healthy soil, establishing a forestry economy, and sustainable development. Within these pillars the empowerment of the local community is central and essential to the process. Africa Wood Grow is educating local farmers in sustainable agriculture by the means of workshops and various example farms. Moreover, the Kamiti CBO serves as a network for farmers to ask each other questions and share their experiences to improve their farming practices. This collective knowledge pool increases the restoration rate of the area, and also the profit farmers make. Although we see that communities often already have a strong social network, we hope joint tree planting programmes in schools, hospitals, and towns unite communities even further.

Additionally, Africa Wood Grow finds it important to increase biodiversity and environmental sustainability and livelihood resilience through diversifying production systems and income sources for local communities.

Lastly, Africa Wood Grow attaches great value to the documentation and visualization of the area, in order to demonstrate the impact over the past years and see where improvements can be made. The main focus of documentation lays on the canopy cover, tree growth, the number of farmers, and the health of the trees.

“Together we aim at improving food and water supplies in order to increase the wellbeing of others”

Kathome farm in 2012

Kathome farm in 2020

Continue to grow

Africa Wood Grow wants to develop sustainably, and therefore donations are use in an effective and resourceful way. For example, .. trees can be planted per €.. donated.

Another approach towards sustainable development is that new techniques such as agroforestry are developed step by step alongside the current reality. This is important, especially when operating in a small economy. Therefore, Africa Wood Grow continues to experiment on a small scale, document the process and investigate to improve desired outcomes for different scales and stakeholders.

And, this has been working! In 2021 the trees planted together with the local community reached a survival rate of 82%. Additionally, in 2022 a total of 152 farmers have joined in total and contributed to the realization of our common vision.

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