Community Impact
We believe high-quality projects bring tangible, measurable benefits to the communities involved. Projects can bring employment opportunities, capacity building, and contribute to community funds and direct development.
๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐: ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฑ, ๐๐๐๐. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, a good education, and a decent standard of living. Higher values indicate higher human development.ยนยฒ
Economic Opportunity
Nature-based projects often take place in areas with limited economic opportunities and ranked lower on the Human Development Index. Projects can provide direct employment and/or capacity building to build livelihoods and eventually reduce vulnerability to food insecurity.
Revenue share and benefits distribution are also core project elements that contribute to local economies.
Malawi Rural Development Project
The Malawi Integrated Rural Development project addresses nature restoration, economic development, and household energy. The project includes two complementary projectsโ Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (ARR) and Clean Cookstovesโ that bring benefits to the local community.ย
Land in central Malawi has been degraded by unsustainable plantation style tobacco farming, leaving the local community with poor-quality soil for subsistence farming and virtually no paid employment opportunities. The project establishes renewed agricultural operations and permanent orchards which serve as afforestation of the degraded farmland. The project has provided paid work to over 1,000 local community members along with a kickstarter package of agricultural inputs for subsistence farming. Activities will eventually expand to include reforestation of more degraded agricultural lands with native tree species.ย The Cookstoves project benefits the wider community, with a goal to distribute 2 improved cookstoves to each of the 14,000 participating households.
Improved cookstoves have enormous benefits for communities, in particular women and children. More efficient cookstoves reduce hazardous particulates and smoke, reducing exposure among women and children who spend hours of their day in the kitchen. The reduction in fuel use also reduces the burden of wood fuel collection, providing valuable time savings, which can result in more time dedicated to income-generating activities or schooling for young girls. Over time, reduced pressure on forest resources benefits entire communities and reduces the need to use subpar fuel sources such as waste products.13 In 2023, 4,990 stoves were distributed.ย
Addressing the needs of vulnerable communities
Rural Malawians face immense challenges to meet basic needs. As of 2022, 70% of Malawiโs population lived on less than $2.15 per day,14 and 82% experience moderate to severe food insecurity.15 The country has among the worldโs lowest rates of access to clean cooking fuels,16 which means the majority rely on wood and solid fuels, leading to a rate of nearly 16% of deaths attributable to indoor air pollution.17
๐๐ถ๐ด๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฎ: ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฒ๐
๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ณ
๐๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง $2.15 ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ข ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฅ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด.ยนโธ
๐๐ถ๐ด๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฏ: ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด
๐๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐จ๐ข๐ด, ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ-๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด.ยนโน
Collected Firewood
Fuel Efficient Cook Stove
Economic Opportunity
Collecting Firewood
Traditional Three Stone Fire
Cookstoves have reduced cooking times, allowing users to have more free time for other activities. the reduction in the overall cost of wood has supported community members to buy food items.
๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐: ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฌ. ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฐ๐ข. When households are reliant on wood fuel for cooking, increasing population means increasing pressure on forest resources. The above figure shows Malawi population growth over time ยฒยฒ compared to forest cover over time. ยฒยณ
Reducing Drivers of Deforestation
In rural Malawi, 96% of households rely on wood and solid fuel for daily cooking and heating.20 This use of forest resources makes household cooking and heating one of the leading drivers of deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 30% of global GHG emissions from forest degradation are derived from woodfuel harvest.21 Improved cookstoves which more efficiently combust solid fuels can dramatically reduce emissions and reduce overall fuel use. By distributing not 1, but 2 stoves to each household, the project is designed to enable households to meet all their cooking needs on the improved stoves and transition away from the traditional open fire.