General information

When: April 16 - 08:00 am (UTC)

Where: Zoom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81458829636?pwd=QYjFywuebklZUrPR5XMsa6a4PGtGPF.1

Meeting-ID: 814 5882 9636
Kenncode: 978723

Language: French

Please find the recording of the video here: https://youtu.be/lhW8-qs5y0Q

About the topic:

Land degradation is a serious threat in Africa, particularly in the Sahel where the combination of climate change, increased population, loss of tree and vegetative cover, and intensified land use is undermining the natural resource base on which rural communities depend. Solutions for a restoration of the dry lands are key to reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss and address the effects of climate change. It is about regaining lost ecological functions by enabling communities to improve the productivity, resilience and sustainability of their livelihoods by adapting some combination and sequence of innovative regreening practices that regenerates the land and restore the landscapes.

In this session of the Community of Practice we invited Groundswell International and SPONG to report about their work in the Sahel. They will explain their methods and practices on the lands and in the communities, talk about successes and challenges. There will be space for questions, answers and discussions.

Agenda

Further information on organisations and speakers:

Peter Gubbels is Groundswell International’s Senior Advisor for West Africa and is one of Groundswell’s co-founders. He has 38 years of experience in rural development, including over 28 years living and working in West Africa. Peter is the co-author of From the Roots Up: Strengthening Organizational Capacity through Guided Self-Assessment. He has also written numerous articles, research reports, evaluations, case studies and policy briefs on agroecology. Peter was recently appointed senior fellow with the Global Evergreening Alliance, and he holds an MA in Rural Development from the University of East Anglia in Great Britain, an Honor’s degree in History from the University of Western Ontario, and a college diploma in Agricultural Production and Management.		https://www.groundswellinternational.org
Richard Ouedraogo My name is Richard OUEDRAOGO, and I'm an Economist for Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment. What organization do you belong to and what do you do? I'm the "Communities Reverd the Sahel" project manager for Burkina Faso, based at SPONG. I'm mainly in charge of agricultural, environmental and local development issues at SPONG. I am also in charge of coordinating SPONG's Thematic Groups and Regional Coordination Units. Pierre Omer Ouedraogo My name is Pierre Omer OUEDRAOGO, I'm an Economist and Manager by training. What organization do you belong to and what do you do? I'm the Benkadi project manager for Burkina Faso, based at SPONG. I mainly deal with environmental and climate change issues, and I've been coordinating the Burkina Faso consortium of the "Communities Reverd the Sahel" project since 2018, and another initiative on sub-regional climate resilience since 2021 funded by the Dutch government.		www.spong.bf