Seeds of change

TBA’s new training programme has created a skilled cohort of 41 African forest restoration professionals from 16 countries across Africa.   They now have the expertise to design evidence-based forest restoration programmes that achieve sustainable outcomes, mitigate climate change and provide a host of ecosystem services for livelihoods and human wellbeing.

As Vincent Ayang from Nigeria put it “Our take home message is that restoration is much more than just planting trees”

We ran two field courses in Kibale Forest in Uganda – “a living laboratory” for restoration and conservation management.   Over each 12 day course (in February 2025 and 2026,) our African participants learned the science and practice of evidence-based forest restoration, ecological monitoring and stakeholder engagement. The diversity of participants we brought together meant that every discussion was enriched by a wealth of perspectives and peer to peer learning.

James Wambura from Tanzania told us “In two weeks I learnt a year’s worth of knowledge. This is the first time I’ve learnt about indicators that we can use in our monitoring plans”.

Our field courses were part of a two-year programme we ran in partnership with Kabale University, Uganda and funded by the Darwin Initiative through the UK Government.  During the programme, Kabale University produced two new MSc modules in forest restoration – designed to generate skilled graduates that government and NGO’s need to carry out restoration in Uganda.    

Impacts from the field courses

The training had dramatic impacts. After returning home, participants from the courses described fundamental shifts in the way they design and monitor restoration and the manner in which they communicate with communities and funders.”

Here are some examples

Letting the forest recover itself

Alice Mutemi, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya

Alice used her fresh knowledge to apply a principle most KFS officers had not used: prioritise natural regeneration before planting. At a degraded river site, she protected existing seedlings and planted only in bare patches. Lower costs, less labour, better survival. She has since shared this approach with 25–30 colleagues. It is changing practice within a major government institution.

From the forest to the funding table 

TBA’s training gave Christian the tools to win a competitive consultancy to evaluate community forestry in Ghana and three national stakeholder workshops. The same skills are now embedded in EMBRACE, his 25-community, 1,250-household agroforestry project across Ghana and Kenya.

“It was priceless — we learnt things we could not have gained from any other course.”  — Christian Opoku-Kwarteng, CSIR Ghana

Forests reborn in the Bale Mountains 

Mesfin Boja Doyo, Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, Ethiopia

Mesfin returned to the Sirach Forest and began again, differently using the tools and inspiration from the TBA course.  The community he worked with created a new governance structure so that the forest belongs to all and is exploited by none. He also generated a new monitoring plan with adaptive management.  There are now 30 hectares under restoration with springs recovering and 80% seedling survival rate. The community now calls it a living green belt.

Looking ahead

TBA’s ambition is to reach 100 restoration managers from 20+ African countries in the coming years and to support other African universities to embed similar programmes in their teaching courses.  Our partnership with Kabale University shows it can be done.  We are looking for partners to join us in scaling up these impacts.