News
Justdiggit believes it is time to share positive and hopeful insights when it comes to climate change. People must be aware that we can restore ecosystems and that solutions exist.
Earth smiles :)
Two Maasai communities have dug 6,400 bunds in Kenya 1.5 months ago and it’s already paying off: the area is regreening and this will spread, because the roots soften the earth, which can capture and hold the rain.
That’s why we also like to call them ‘earth smiles’! Not smiling yet? By adding them to the total number of earth smiles dug within our regreening project areas, we went over the number of…. 80,000!
Justdiggit in the Tanzanian The Guardian!
Our re-greening was spotted by the Tanzanian The Guardian! In an extensive article they described how we, together with the local communities, restore degraded landscapes and how we use media and communication to inspire and activate an entire generation to start re-greening.
Curious about the whole article? Read it here ->
The premiere of Rainmakers III: A Tanzanian Story
Thursday evening, March 21, our new documentary Rainmakers III: A Tanzanian Story was premiered in the most famous cinema in The Netherlands: Tuschinski Theater Amsterdam. We co-hosted this event with our media partner Jean Mineur Mediavision. It was a wonderful evening together with partners and friends!
Read more about the documentary here ->
The women behind the grass seed bank
The grass is always greener… when collaborating with a women’s group! The Maasai women are working hard maintaining and continuously improving the grass seed banks. This needs to be shared on this International Women’s Day!
Curious about the developments within the grass seed banks? Keep reading! ->
Green bunds in Tanzania!
Last October and November Tanzanian farmers dug and sowed more than 5,000 bunds. They prevent soil erosion and improve water availability for plants. And by buying the grass seeds from local farmers, the local economy is stimulated. By combining these two you get: fertile soil.
Check here the process of digging the bund in the dry season to regreening during the rainy season ->
A parade organized by farmers
In Tanzania a number of our trained champion farmers organized a parade from the village Nghumbi to Mlali. Why? They marched to communicate about the importance of taking care of the environment.
Lots of villagers supported the marching, most of them stood curiously at the side of the road to see what the marching was all about. It makes us proud, because they organized it on their own initative. These farmers are transforming into activists!
Cool kids support Justdiggit
On October 4, 2018, the creative school Nimeto have started the excellence program with an ambitious project for Justdiggit. The students are very enthusiastic and so are we!
The students are working 1.5 year on the project. Their task is to create a product or service and launch it on the market, by which the profits will go to our projects. They work (among others) with the organization Jong Ondernemen and receive guest lectures from experts to achieve this.
Every year Nimeto organize a Christmas market and this time they create awareness for Justdiggit. Last week 4 students were gathered at our office to hand a check to us. They have collected, believe it or not, €6,000, – euros!
Impact on biodiversity!
Yes! This Wildebeest, large African antelope, has been spotted in one of our project areas in Kenya. The rangers that protect the bund area observe more and more wildlife since the vegetation began to recover.
Monitoring the bunds with satellites and sensors
(Nearly) graduate student Martijn Mulder did his graduation project in Kuku, Kenya, on behalf of satellite company Vandersat. He researched the impact of our projects by using satellites and sensors.
And guess what…! He saw great effects from the soil moisture sensors and the NDVI satellite images. Like: soil moisture contents inside the bunds at 40cm depth were twice as high compared to outside the bunds, even three months after the rain season! A great result, and currently, the sensors are still in the field to continue measurements.
Read more about this research in Martijn’s blog ->
African media gathering!
Beginning of December we had our first official African media gathering in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This is important for us, because we use the power of communication to scale up the Justdiggit re-greening programs.
Together with our amazing partners Havas Africa, JCDecaux Africa, LEAD Foundation, and Havas Lemz, we invited a select group of media partners, potential ambassadors and online influencers, all of whom were very excited to learn about our programs and eager to join our green revolution. Work in progress and a great first step!