Onura Tree planting project

HOPE OFIRIHA is a registered Sudanese charity working in Magwi County. It has a coordinating office in Oslo. To read about us what we have achieved to date, please see our website: www.Ofiriha.org

Our mission is; ­

• to create opportunities for the local women a round Lofiriha communities
• to improve the standard of education and healthcare
• to preserve and sustainbly improve the environment

Aim of project;

• To grow 2000 million trees per year by establishing 2 community tree nurseries, each growing 1000,000 trees per year to provide sustainable source of wood for the future.
• To train, educate and empower the local communities to sustainably manage their environment to reduce poverty.

Project duration;

• We will be opening nurseries as funds become available

Project Location;
An area of approximately 2,000 km² in Onura sub - village, Magwi Sudan.

Budget breakdown two Nurseries;

Awareness training, tree nursery training, compost training                            $150
Basic tree nursery equipment, polythene tube and seeds                              $250
Purchasing of 2000,000 tree seedlings (2000'000*$1, 00)                             $2000
Monitoring and Evaluation                                                                          $100
Rewarding those who plant and properly care for seedlings                             $100

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Total request for project                                                                            USD2600

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$2600 - pays for setting up and running of 2 tree nurseries for one year.

This money pays for equipment, polythene tubes, seeds, training, monitoring, and transport.

Lofiriha community is a poor society and 99% of the people live in rural areas. Wood is a necessary part of every day life, and there is tremnedous pressure to clear forests for agriculture. The present way of life is not sustainble, and wood has always been treated as a free resource and vast areas of woodland have been cleared up carelessly without any replanting for future generation. This deforestation also leads to soil erosion, land degradation and ultimately climate change, which is and will have a devastating effect.

What are the Problems?

• Tobacco drying (1 acre of tobacco requires up to 3 acres of woodland to cure the tobocco)
• Shifting cultivation (when the soils is exhausted, virgin forest is cleared up for new farmland)
• Brick burning (to fire kilns to make bricks)
• Building
• Selling firewood (wood is sold to areas where all the trees have been cut down)
• Domestic firewood (99% of the population have no access to main electricity - just making a cup of tea uses several logs)
• Bush burning (in dry season, large areas of land are cleared by burning the bush)

The project;

• To establish 400 tree nurseries in 4 villages, each producing 10,000 - 12,000 seedlings per year. This will give a total of 4 million trees each year.
• To carry out regular training and monitoring with forests guards, Traditional Authorities, chiefs and local village Development committees.
• To organize localized education programs for all local communities and schools, illustrating conservation and better agricultural practices
• To set up localized projects to produce and distribute fuel efficient burning cookers
• Initially, there would be an emphasis on planting quick growing trees that do not destroy the soil. These trees could be used for firewood, brick burning, and building in 4- 5 years. From 2 years onwards, there will be greater emphasis on growing indigenous trees, fruit trees and agro forestry trees.
  
  

Project Beneficiaries;
The project beneficiaries will be all members of Lofiriha communities, including the Traditional Authorities, chiefs, men, Women, and young girls in the society, through the planting the trees and environmental education programmes. With the local people managing their environment, this project will significantly contribute towards reducing poverty.

Project Goal;
The overall goal of this project is to preserve the existing natural trees and replace the large number of indigenous trees that have already been felled in Lofiriha community. This will be achieved by planting large number of trees which will provide sufficient wood for the future activities i.e. cooking, brick burning, etc. This project will only work with the help and corporation of the chiefs and their local communities, and training education programmes will be maintained to promote sustainable use of the natural resources for the future. This programme will greatly benefit women in the rural areas, as they will be encouraged to work with and learn about tree nurseries, wood - efficient stove production, etc. They will ultimately benefit from the abundant supplies of sustainable locally sourced wood. In addition, agriculture in the area will benefit from the use of agro forestry trees, which will help to improve the soil fertility.

Activities;

• Meet all Traditional Authorities, Chiefs, and Forests Guards in the target area.
• Awareness training, tree nursery training, compost training, etc.
• Supply of basic tree nursery equipment, polythene tube and seeds
• Establishment of tree nurseries.
• Setting up (fuel - efficient wood burning cooker) projects in various areas
• Monitoring of tree nurseries and localized training.
• Helping to plan planting - out programme
• Training and caring for newly planted - out seedlings.

Monitoring and Evaluation;
All activities shall be monitored and evaluated by Hope Ofiriha, Forest Guards, the local communities and all other stakeholders.

Conclusion;
This project is designed to produce maximum results. The Vast majority of the money will be used in the field for equipment and seeds, together with training and monitoring. The main office costs are kept to the minimum. The managers of the project will be chosen on the basis of ability and a real passion for improving the environment in Lofiriha community. We are confident that this project will have major and long - lasting benefits for the rural Lofiriha communities, and that it will make a major contribution to poverty reduction.

For information contact us at: info@ofiriha.org tel: (+47) 47445159 (Norway)