Regreening in Togo, Madagascar, and Ethiopia with GIZ

Justdiggit is partnering with GIZ to help introduce and scale Forest Landscape Restoration techniques in Togo, Madagascar & Ethiopia. The techniques help to restore and protect 2,000 hectares of woodlands in the three countries. Within the Forests4Future program, we will support the local implementing team in executing diverse communication approaches to help to scale the impact of the program.

About GIZ
The Forests4Future program is coordinated by The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and financially supported by The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). GIZ is a service provider that works worldwide in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and educational work. GIZ helps its commissioning parties and cooperation partners to generate ideas for political, social, and economic change, to develop these into concrete plans, and to implement them. They are dedicated to shaping a future world worth living in around the globe. 

About Forests4Future
The Forests4Future project focuses on the restoration and governance of forests and tree-rich, productive landscapes in Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Togo with help of Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) practices. Through this collaboration, we protect and bring back trees in woodlands by implementing a diverse range of reforestation measures. Together we aim to restore an area of 2,000 hectares within the three countries. Restoring these landscapes with FLR measures, also contribute to the mission of the AFR100. AFR100 (the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative) is a country-led effort to restore 100 million hectares of land in Africa by 2030.

Bringing back trees with the help of FLR practices reduces soil erosion, positively impacts biodiversity, water availability, and land productivity. Implementing FLR measures not only improves the resilience of the restored landscapes, but it also improves the resilience of the communities living in the area to the impacts of climate change and health risks such as COVID-19. Restoring the landscapes also helps to support the livelihoods of the local communities in other ways: It is estimated the income from the restored areas will increase by an average of 10% for the 1,700 households living in the project regions. The Forests4Future specifically aims to empower local communities with a special focus on young people and women. To keep the restored forests green and healthy and protect existing forestry areas, the project also aims to improve the governance of forests in the three countries. 

Scaling up with communication
Justdiggit supports the Forests4Future project with its expertise in media and communication. Over the years, we gained knowledge and a lot of experience on how to develop and implement different communication approaches and build up a large network of media partners globally. With this media and communication power, we now aim to scale up the regreening efforts of the Forests4Future project. By implementing a diverse range of communication tools, we want to inspire and motivate people inside and outside the project areas to start regreening. Think about a movie roadshow traveling from one village to the other or implementing an SMS service dedicated to informing subscribers about regreening and useful tips. This way, we can reach millions of people and scale up the restoration of forests and tree-rich landscapes and create local champions to own the regreening revolution.  

We are honored to be part of this great initiative, and we can’t wait to reach many more people in the new programs in Togo, Madagascar, and Ethiopia. A warm thanks to GIZ for making the Forests4Future project happen, together contributing towards a greener and cooler planet.