ESTEEMED ADVISORY COUNCIL JOINS TREES FOR THE FUTURE
Organization Poised to Sustain Growth with Support from Industry Experts
SILVER SPRING (April 21, 2021) – In celebration of Earth Day (April 22nd), Trees for the Future (TREES) announces its brand new advisory council made up of leading agriculture and international development industry experts.
“Earth Day is a time to reflect on the environmental challenges we face but also on how we can tackle them together,” says Trees for the Future Program Director Brandy Lellou. “With our newly assembled advisory council, we’re combining the unique talents of diverse groups of individuals to do just that.”
The nonprofit recently organized their advisory council with members from across sectors of international development, agriculture, restoration, and more. The advisory council’s purpose is to work closely with the nonprofit’s team to navigate the direction of the nonprofit over the next decade.
TREES’ Board Member Ariana Constant stated, “As nonprofit organizations grow, there are many opportunities to sustain impact and effect positive change. The TREES team and board are excited to work with the newly formed Advisory Council on navigating the scaling process – including both expanding geographically, reaching more communities through the Forest Garden Approach, and advising on organizational growth. This team will bring decades of experience and expertise to TREES and help guide the organization forward with sustained impact.”
Active members of the Advisory Council include:
- Pape Gaye (Former President/CEO of IntraHealth, Founder of Baobab Institute)
- Jean Gilson (Senior Vice President, Global Strategy, DAI)
- Nicole Nunoo (PhD Student, Virginia Tech, Department of Agricultural Leadership and Community Education)
- Regis Oubida (Forestry Engineer, Burkina Faso National Tree Seed Center)
- Mihayo Wilmore (Co-Founder, Twigalpha)
Facilitating members of the Advisory Council include:
- Paul Guenette (Former President, ACDI/VOCA)
- Ariana Constant (Director, Clinton Foundation)
- Brandy Lellou (Programs Director, TREES)
“We are thrilled to welcome this diverse group of ages, experiences, geographies, and voices to the Trees for the Future family and look forward to the first kickoff meeting in May just ahead of the launch of UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration,” says Lellou.
TREES is an international organization working with farmers to transform degraded farmland into diverse growing systems using an agroforestry technique called the Forest Garden Approach. Forest Garden farmers are not only helping the planet but also increasing their incomes and food access. With land use as the leading driver of climate change, TREES is successfully helping the environment as well as ending hunger and poverty by training smallholder farmers to use their land in a more sustainable way.
Over the last 32 years, TREES has planted over 215 million trees with farmers in developing countries. They currently work with over 36,000 farmers across nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa. As farmers experience the increasing challenges of growing food in a changing climate, TREES is increasing farmers’ food access by expanding over the next decade in priority areas including The Great Green Wall zone, Lake Victoria Watershed, Mt. Elgon, and near the Central Tanzania Game Reserves. Learn more about their approach at trees.org.
###
Trees for the Future is a registered 501 (c) (3) nonprofit training smallholder farmers in sustainable agroforestry systems to end hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation.