How tree planting helps African women become community leaders

Just the gist

If you're in a rush, here's what you need to know this month:

Our project has been reverified by Verra, an organisation that measures the effectiveness of carbon offset projects against a highly rigorous standard.
Our projects give farmers many opportunities to grow. Today we hear the story of Charity Wanjiku, one of thousands of farmers raised up by our partner, TIST.

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Happy 2021 Wren subscribers!

I'm happy to announce that the project you support, Community Tree Planting, has recently been reverified by Verra, a leading carbon standards organization. This reverification ensures that your subscription will continue to have a big impact on the climate.

Commmunity tree planting has positive impacts in other ways too. Over 50% of our projects' farmers are women, and our project provides them with opportunities to become community leaders.

Today we hear the story of one of these leaders.

Life in the grove: The story of Charity Wanjiku

A good farmer. A good homemaker. A good parishioner.

These are all titles that have long followed Charity’s introduction within her community. But these days she proudly wears another one too – a good leader.

She earned this title by leading many groups of farmers in her TIST Cluster and successfully training other farmers in conservation farming in her community in Kenya.

“TIST promoted me from underground to up, made me more courageous of a leader, and helped me know I had the capability to lead.”

Anybody who has seen Charity's drive first hand knows that the seeds of leadership were always nestled in her. All they needed was some nurturing and an opportunity to blossom. Today, Charity is not only a leader at TIST. She's also a leader within local organizations in her community and in her church too.

It wasn't always this way. It takes bravery to raise your voice in the crowd. Charity found herself planted in a society where she had to be twice as loud as her male counterparts to be heard.

She had to be patient to earn respect from colleagues who wouldn't always give it freely. She proved herself over, and over again. Now, at her training sessions, when Charity takes the stage, everyone listens.

Although Charity has come a long way, she's still reaching for the skies. She's now using her position as a TIST trainer to unearth the best farming practices from across every Cluster. She spreads this knowledge from group to group, levelling-up the skills of thousands of farmers across East Africa.

The story of Charity is the story of thousands of female farmers across East Africa. By supporting this project, you're helping Charity, and the many women just like her.

This farmer is using his knowledge of conservation farming to grow tomato plants. Delicious.

That's it for this update! If you have questions or feedback, please reply directly to this email. I'll reply as soon as I can.

– Thomas Hollands

PS - People often ask us how they can help us keep growing. Firstly, you're awesome, thanks for asking! Secondly, Its easy–just tell your friends! In fact, you can even send referrals directly from your profile page.