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Villagers were contemplating leaving their home and community. The soil in Guesna was hard and brittle, and their harvests kept shrinking. They had heard that land to the south, further from the Sahara desert, was more fertile. Maybe they should give up on their land? Later that year, trainers from ECHO came to Guesna to share techniques that have been proven to help farmers improve the harvests on their degraded fields. They learned about making liquid fertilizer and filling planting stations with compost before planting. They also learned how a few changes in their chicken management would result in healthier chickens. Villagers are breaking the cycle of poverty for their families. “My life has completely changed,” shares Alassane. “Before the ECHO training, with such a small harvest, it had been impossible for me to feed my family all year round.” He now grows enough to sell part of his crop...

GrowEastAfrica (GEA) and Seed Programs International (SPI) have partnered in Burji district to augment rural farmer families’ traditional knowledge about local farming and agriculture. By gaining access to high-quality vegetable seeds and learning new farming practices, families reduce their food vulnerability by growing nutritious vegetables and quinoa for self-sufficiency. The GEA-SPI partnership focuses on the Birhan Ladies Group: a fifty-member women’s farming cooperative that was formed after 2,000 refugee families relocated near the town of Mega in southern Ethiopia. The refugee families—all traditionally-skilled farmers—fled their homes to escape inter-ethnic clashes between two Oromo tribes, the larger Borana tribe and smaller Burji tribe. Leaving their farms and animals behind, families traveled 200 miles to take shelter in the Burji district, their ancestral home. Since then, about half of the refugee families have returned to their former homes, while others remained in the Burji district to start new lives — like the...

Located across Buca Bay from mainland Fiji, Kioa Island is resplendent with steep volcanic slopes and brightly wooded mountains. Fishing, handicraft, root farming, and copra processing for coconut oil generate just enough revenue to support the island.  Although Kioans are citizens of Fiji, they have a history and culture all their own. In 1947, residents of Vaitupu, one of the nation of Tuvalu’s eight coral reef islands, purchased Kioa and resettled to the then-uninhabited island, bringing their culture and traditions with them.  “Kioa Island, our new ‘home away from home,’ maintains the practices, language, cultures and the social norms inherited from Vaitupu,” explains Maina Talia, the co-director of Kioa Island Community Organization (KICO), the only non-governmental organization established and led by the people of Kioa. Given Kioa’s relatively recent history, its people are still working to establish a secure footing and resilient future for generations to come, for example through...