Restore Land. Protect Lives.
We have now reached our Summer Appeal campaign target! Thank you so much to everyone that donated – we couldn’t have done it without you.
Thanks to our very generous supporters Simon and Dorothy, the first $168,385 of donations we received have been matched. This means the impact of these donations has been doubled, and will reach twice as many families like Jeanne’s in Rwanda and Burundi. If you would still like to donate to our appeal, your gift won’t be matched, but every additional donation will mean we can reach more families to restore land and protect lives.
Around Lake Cyohoha on the Rwanda-Burundi border, farmers face shrinking harvests due to poor soil and erratic rains. Climate change threatens to push them into extreme food insecurity.
Soil erosion and over-exploitation have left the land around Lake Cyohoha infertile. Smallholder farmers cannot grow enough food to feed their families, let alone generate what would be their only source of income. The poor soil quality means they are also vulnerable to climate shocks like drought and flooding.
With your support, we can empower farmers to retore their land with sustainable methods for a future free from hunger.
Jeanne is struggling to feed her children
Jeanne pictured below is a single mother. She lives in Rwanda, in the region around Lake Cyohoha. Jeanne farms other people’s land when she can, as she doesn’t have her own. She typically grows beans, maize and cassava, sharing the harvest with the landowner.
Jeanne wakes up every morning wondering if she will have enough food to feed her five children. The long dry season in Rwanda means she often doesn’t. Her children regularly go hungry – mostly surviving on just one meal a day.
Jeanne is determined to change her family’s future, and believes that with the right support, she can.
Restoring land to fight hunger and protect lives
As part of the Restore project, 2,000 households like Jeanne’s will be supported to restore their natural resources including soil and water.
- They will learn about our proven sustainable farming techniques. Effective methods such as intercropping, terracing, and planting food and fodder crops together will work to improve the quality and resilience of their soil by helping it retain water and nutrients.
- They will be supported with training in how to protect and regenerate their natural resources through activities such as reducing pollution, controlling erosion and tree planting.
- They will be empowered to increase their income by being supported to add value to their produce and by building connections with local markets.
These activities will restore healthy soil so farmers can grow enough nutritious food to feed their families and earn a stable income from surplus crops. Their children will grow up healthier, they’ll be better prepared for future climate shocks, and the environmental health of Lake Cyohoha will improve.
How Therese transformed her life
Therese is a married mother of six who also lives in Rwanda. Just like Jeanne, Therese used to struggle with unproductive land.
But after she started working with Ripple Effect, things began to change for the better.
She received seeds, tools and training, and now her land is healthy. Therese grows an abundance of crops including coffee, peanuts, beetroot and fruits. She keeps livestock, and her family eat three times a day. Therese generously shares the knowledge she has with her neighbours, creating a ripple effect in her community.
“When you practice soil conservation, you have increased yields, and you are able to progress… As you can see, I have a project of growing vegetables, I share the knowledge with my neighbours so they too can recover from malnutrition.”
– Therese, Rwanda
Donate today
Donations will go directly to supporting farming families we’re working alongside as part of our Restore project. They will support mothers like Jeanne to feed their families by restoring their land for a future free from hunger.
Our very generous supporters Simon and Dorothy, who pledged a $168,385 match pot for this campaign, said: “We want to help people in Africa to have the rich, rewarding lives that they deserve. Ripple Effect’s approach is not a quick fix; they work with whole communities to give them the organisation, tools, resources, and training that equip them for a dignified and sustainable future.”
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