Trees of Knowledge: Restoring Landscapes & Futures
21st January 2022
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International Day of Education
Since joining Tree Aid as a volunteer in 2021, I’ve spent much of my time reading through the stories of our project participants, to share with our supporters online. Within these stories, I noticed a common thread about the importance of education.
Educating the next generation is a clear aspiration for the communities we work with in the Sahel and has been the top priority for many of the families on our projects. Project participants have often explained to us that they were not able to receive the education they would have hoped for. Similarly, many tell us that one of their main hopes is to provide their children with a good education, to ensure the best possible future.
Today marks the UN International Day of Education. This is a great time for us to take a look at Tree Aid’s projects and listen to some of the views and experiences of our participants, around the importance of education and the desire to give their children the best possible start in life.
"I believe that I have a bright future...I wish for a better life for my children in the future and my job is to keep sending them to school and try to save money for their future." - Grow Hope Project Participant Solomon. Kazigu village, Ghana.
Access to Education
According to UNESCO, of all the regions in Africa, sub-Saharan Africa – including the Sahel, where we work - has the highest rates of “education exclusion”. Studies reveal that the older children living in these regions get, the less likely they are to be in education: over one-fifth of 6–11-year-olds are out of school, which rises to one-third when they reach 12–14 years of age. What’s more, by the time youth in sub-Saharan Africa are between the ages of 15 and 17, almost 60% of them are unable to be in school.
It is important to recognise that within these figures, there is a stark gender gap. The UN Africa Gender Index Report (2019) found that by the time children reach secondary education, there is a ‘female to male ratio of 88.8% for lower secondary and 86.5% for upper secondary’.
Education inequality is an issue that our project participants are acutely aware of, as many of them were unable to attend school, and receive a formal education, themselves. For this reason, much of the extra income they earn through Tree Aid assisted projects - like Grow Hope and The Future Forest Project – is used to send their children to school.
Baata's thoughts on education
“My hope is that the in the future I will be able to provide enough food for my family, to be able to pay my children’s school fees and to see more trees growing.”
Stories from the Sahel
A distinct commonality that stands out in these stories, is that the extra money our participants earn is spent on their children’s education. For many of the families we’ve worked with, education is the key to not only their children’s future, but also to future of their land and their communities.
Derese, a participant on our Future Forest Project, ardently believes that it is important for his children to receive an education, so that they can learn to look after the land and in turn work towards eradicating the poverty of his region of Metema, Ethiopia. In doing so, he is recognizing the link between a thriving forest and prosperous economy.
When asked about education, many participants have highlighted the fact that not just wealth, but gender plays a key role in defining whether a child is able to go to school. The UN Africa Gender Index Report (2019) reveals that there is a significant gender gap in access to education across Africa, with girls less likely to receive schooling than boys.
“I hope that my children will become qualified professionals who work hard to contribute in the efforts to improve the productivity of the forest, crops, animals and other resources, and make poverty and destitution history.” – Future Forest Project Participant, Derese. Gundo Ker Afer Got village, Ethiopia.
Setou - a 47-year-old mother of 7 from Koulikoro, Mali –has experienced this educational inequality first-hand. She is a participant on the She Grows Project, an initiative which works with women’s groups in Mali, supporting them to earn a sustainable income.
She didn’t get the chance to go to school when she was younger, and now wants a different future for her children. When talking about her hopes for her family’s future since joining the project, Setou told us:
“I want them to study well at school, so they have a better future. I am hopeful that we will have enough food to eat all year and my children will study at school.”
Much like Setou, Abba - who lives in Navio, Ghana - is also working hard to ensure that her 4 children receive an education.
With the extra money Abba is generating as a result of working on our Grow Hope Project, she is able to send her children to school, where they will be able to graduate and secure strong job opportunities for their future.
The Educational results of 'Grow Hope'
‘Now that I have extra income, I am able to take good care of my children. I no longer struggle to take care of them’ Abba told us.
Even though girls still face more barriers to education than boys, their education comes with ‘clear and concrete social and economic benefits’. Empowering women and girls through education can advantages everyone, a fact our participants recognise, as seen in their determination to provide schooling for their children, regardless of gender.
Growing a Greener Future
As the UN International Day of Education draws near, we must recognise the connections between education deprivation and environmental degradation. The former feeds into the latter and that cycle can be hard to break.
Restoring the land of the Sahel is intrinsically linked with eliminating poverty in the communities we work with. Education is the key to replenishing and protecting the land, which then in turn boosts the economic prospects for the people who live there.
Tree Aid recognises this, and as such we are proud be working on the ambitious Great Green Wall project (in partnership with the African Union and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification) an African-led initiative which will see an 8,000km mosaic of restored land across the Sahel region.
Trees offer protection and opportunity for both people and the planet, so as we set off into 2022, we are excited to continue supporting communities across the Sahel and witness the on-going benefits nature-based solutions provide.
Photography Credits:
Banner image - Lema Concepts Africa
Image 1 - Lema Concepts Africa
Image 2 - Hamdia Traoré
Image 3 - Nana Kofi Acquah
