SDG 13: Climate Action
Since 2008, CARE and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have worked together at the intersection of development and conservation to strengthen ecosystems, support the women who depend on them, and help build a future where people and nature thrive. In 2023, the CARE-WWF Alliance launched Sowing Change, a groundbreaking livelihood-to-leadership initiative that supports women and their communities to generate income while caring for the environment.
“It’s really hard to conserve natural resources or even think about long- term management of an area when you’re trying to feed your family,” says Cheryl Margoluis, Executive Director of the CARE-WWF Alliance. “Communities want to be a part of programs that help them manage resources with long-term conservation benefits, but that also help them meet their immediate household needs.”
By developing women-led, nature-based enterprises — such as native plant nurseries, beekeeping, and seed banks of climate-resilient trees and crops — Sowing Change will help women address practical concerns while contributing to landscape restoration and leading their communities to identify local climate solutions. These businesses will also link to larger-scale restoration efforts, helping participants scale up their climate solutions by tapping into the Alliance’s expansive network. “Sowing Change gives women the literal seeds of change to rebuild climate-devastated communities and create more resilient ones for the future,” says Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE.
Sowing Change is beginning in East and Southern Africa with projects in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. Teams will tailor each project to the specific community, but the initiative draws on past successes in Tanzania, Nepal, and Mozambique. In Tanzania, a group of women in an Alliance-sponsored Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) invested in beehives and a native tree nursery, both of which are helping protect and restore the local landscape. And in Mozambique, farmers saw their crop productivity double after implementing climate-resilient practices and using hardy seed varieties provided by the Alliance. “The Mozambique and Nepal programs ended several years ago, but the work is still being carried out by local teams,” Cheryl says.
“To us, seeing communities lead their own climate solutions is really the sustainable solution. It’s the success story.”
Interested in learning more? Reach out to us at impact@care.org, and we’ll be in touch soon.