Wilde Ganzen Foundation, WACSI, A Rocha Ghana, Warsi, Natura Bolivia, and IUCN NL support Strengthen the Roots (StR). StR focuses on bolstering local communities living in threatened natural areas. Their natural resources and rights are increasingly at risk.
These targeted communities often strive for self-sufficiency by relying on the environment for food, water and cultural well-being. However, compounded with climate change, they face pressure from outside and within. These challenges lead to loss of and lack of land access, biome degradation, and a crumbling of traditional governance systems.
Guardians of the landscape need access to support
For many generations, local and indigenous communities have been guardians of the landscape. They are steeped in conservation knowledge and a well-built connection to nature while making a living off their local environment. Yet they are often powerless because their rights, expertise, and traditional management methods are neither recognized nor valued. This gap increases with difficult access to funds, weak networks, and poor visibility.
A program to strengthen communities
Strengthen the Roots, delivered via Wilde Ganzen Foundation’s Change the Game Academy, offers a proven capacity-building method that enables approximately 30 community-based organizations (CBOs) from specific regions in Ghana, Bolivia and Indonesia to diversify their income and mobilize support for their work.
We support these CBO’s with trainings in Local Fundraising and Advocacy given by local trainers, with networks and with funds. Since mid-2023, the CBO’s have formulated and started implementing projects aimed at increasing nature conservation in combination with livelihood improvement. By the end of 2025, these CBO’s will have become drivers of change themselves!
Simultaneously, based on the experiences in the program so far, online Strengthen the Roots training modules will be developed throughout 2024 to offer other CBO’s across the globe the possibility to access techniques to increase their funding and bolster their advocacy efforts.
This program will explicitly and indirectly benefit approximately one million people who live in these areas by regenerating the environment and supporting rights claims.