Last chance to apply for this round of Welsh Government’s Wales for Africa Grants

The Welsh Government Wales for Africa grants scheme is a
£230,000 grant fund for community groups and organisations
throughout Wales via the Wales for Africa grant scheme. The Wales
for Africa programme supports and encourages civil society,
business and public bodies in Wales to take action on poverty in
Africa through active global citizenship, skills exchanges and
mutual learning, partnership working and climate change action in
support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This scheme
enables individuals, community groups and organisations in Wales to
access funding for small-scale projects that contribute to Wales’
delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and deliver
benefits to Wales and Africa.

A funding round for medium grants of between £5,000 and £15,000
is available from 4 May
2018 to 29 June 2018 for
projects that meet scheme
criteria.

This
case study shows what has been achieved by a project with
funding from the Welsh Government Wales for Africa Grants Scheme.
If you’re interested in being a part of what we can achieve with
this scheme, then don’t hesitate to get in touch!

10 Million Trees
Wales for Africa supported an innovative tree planting project in
Mbale, Uganda where 4.2 million trees have been planted over the
last 5 years. The 10 Million Trees project is a collaboration
between 3 NGOs and a Social Enterprise, all of which are members of
the Mbale Coalition Against Poverty. The project, part of Size of
Wales www.sizeofwales.org.uk focuses on poverty alleviation and
climate change adaptation and mitigation. Dozens of community based
tree nurseries promoting agroforestry across the Mbale region have
been created. The project has helped improve livelihoods, helped
farmers adapt to Climate Change and spread the Climate Change
message to thousands of people both in Uganda and here at home.
Small farmers are ‘sensitised’ to climate change and the value of
planting trees by local project workers and a community theatre
group and are then given trees to plant on their tiny plots in
between their coffee and food crops. The project gained
international recognition at the UNFCCC COP 17 Climate Change
Summit in Durban in 2011 as one of the first UN Momentum for Change
Lighthouse Projects capable of replication elsewhere.

Bees for Development
Wales for Africa has also supported Monmouth based charity Bees
for Development who work in partnership with the 10 Million Trees
project through training farmers to keep bees and harvest honey in
a sustainable way – providing people with the means to be
economically self-reliant whilst sustaining the environment.
Beekeeping is welcomed in Mbale because it creates an added income
stream from tree planting.

As beekeeper Stephen Walimbwe explains: “I was taught how to
make beehives from local materials. Honey bees occupied the
beehives by themselves – they cost me nothing. The bees feed on my
trees and give me honey. I have invested little and gaining much.
Now my neighbours want to copy me. I will plant more
trees.”

Get in touch if you think that you’ve got a project idea which
could be funded by the Wales for Africa
scheme -Email: walesafricagrants@wcva.org.uk