FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  

Tanzania  Competition  Inspires  Earth  Day  Campaign  Plant  With  Purpose  Tanzania  is  planting  1  million  trees  a  year    

SAN  DIEGO—April  20,  2015—Richard  Mhina,  country  director  of  Plant  With  Purpose  Tanzania,  sat  down  with  his  staff  to  brainstorm  ideas  for  increasing  farming  families’  program  participation  and  spur  on  motivation.  What  he  devised  could  be  taken  directly  from  a  Jim  Collins  leadership  book.  Rather  than  

highlight  what  was  going  wrong  in  the  program,  Mhina  and  his  team  decided  to  reward  participants  for  what  was  going  right.  The  result  was  a  group  tree  planting  competition.  

The  annual  competition  launched  in  2012.  Since  then,  Plant  With  Purpose  Tanzania  has  planted  over  a  million  trees  annually  around  Mt.  Kilimanjaro.  Recent  impact  evaluations  confirmed  that  partnering  

households  have  caught  the  vision  for  reforestation.  In  2011,  households  planted  an  average  of  39  trees  a  year.  By  2014,  this  number  increased  to  413  trees.  Personal  properties  have  become  saturated  with  trees,  leading  participant  groups  to  reach  out  to  schools  and  other  institutions  to  plant  on  their  land  and  

educate  these  community  members  on  the  importance  of  trees.  The  competition  led  to  a  partnership  with  Mt.  Kilimanjaro  National  Park  where  groups  are  beginning  to  reforest  this  iconic  mountain.    

Plant  With  Purpose  partner  Mungubariko  Tarimo  raised  his  family  of  four  on  the  slopes  of  Mt.  Kilimanjaro.  

“When  you  look  at  my  farm  today,  I  can  tell  you  that  it  didn’t  use  to  be  like  this.  There  were  no  trees  here  and  no  one  in  the  community  was  in  the  habit  of  planting  trees.  We  didn’t  do  anything  to  conserve  the  soil  and  it  would  wash  away  with  the  rain.”  

Tarimo  continues,  “We  learned  from  Plant  With  Purpose  the  importance  of  planting  trees  …  so  we  started  

the  first  tree  nursery  in  this  area.”  More  than  13,000  fruit  and  forest  trees  have  been  planted  in  his  rural  community  of  Masia  Mamba.  “There  has  been  a  great  change  in  the  climate  here  since  we  started  planting  trees.  The  snow  on  the  mountain  was  almost  gone  before,  but  now  it  is  starting  to  return  and  

we  know  that  if  we  continue  planting  trees  it  will  be  like  before.”    

The  2014  group  competition  culminated  in  an  organic  agriculture  festival.  3,000  participants  attended  to  celebrate  the  results  of  their  yearlong  efforts.  The  winning  group,  Mkisinga,  received  four  dairy  goats,  farming  equipment,  solar  lights,  and  training  in  additional  organic  farming  techniques.    

Inspired  by  Tanzania’s  competition  model  and  in  honor  of  Earth  Day,  Plant  With  Purpose  USA  is  hosting  

its  own  competition  by  raising  funds  to  plant  trees.  The  Root  7  giving  program  makes  it  easy  for  supporters  to  put  trees  in  the  ground—just  $7  a  month  plants  7  trees  across  7  countries.  Businesses  such  as  Kellogg  Garden  Products,  Holiday  Inn  Club  Vacations,  and  Investors  Trust  have  joined  Plant  With  

Purpose’s  Earth  Month  efforts  by  giving  thousands  of  dollars  to  plant  trees  in  environmentally  degraded  places.    

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About  Plant  With  Purpose  

Plant  With  Purpose  (plantwithpurpose.org)  is  an  international  development  organization  that  transforms  lives  in  rural  areas  where  poverty  is  caused  by  deforestation.  For  more  than  30  years,  Plant  With  Purpose  

has  provided  lasting  solutions  to  rural  poverty  through  a  community  development  approach  that  integrates  reforestation,  sustainable  agriculture  programs,  economic  opportunity  through  microfinance,  and  local  leadership  development.  Plant  With  Purpose  currently  works  in  more  than  385  communities  in  

six  countries:  Burundi,  the  Dominican  Republic,  Haiti,  Mexico,  Tanzania,  and  Thailand.  The  organization  has  planted  over  14  million  trees  worldwide.  

For  interviews,  inquiries,  or  additional  information  on  Plant  With  Purpose,  including  videos  or  photos,  please  contact  Becky  Rosaler.  

Contact:  Becky  Rosaler              

Marketing  and  Events    800.633.5319  Office              760.650.2819  Cell          

becky@plantwithpurpose.org  plantwithpurpose.org