Kiuongoni
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Kiuongoni is one of the original stakeholders in the Pemba Community Forests effort, with participation dating back to 2007 when the idea of planting trees in Pemba for livelihood support and environmental protection was still a dream.
Mwalimu Jeffar, a well respected teacher in the community gathered a group of people together and traveled to the Community Forests Pemba office in order to request participation in the project after hearing that Community Forests Pemba had visited a neighboring community in order to discuss the feasibility in developing an island-wide planting initiative. Kiuongoni proved to be a perfect planting site, with water access near the proposed nursery site, and wide open tracts of land to provide for the planted trees. In 2008 the community planted 19,000 trees and in 2009, due to harsh weather conditions and drought only managed to plant approximately 6,000 trees. This season, Mwalimu Jaffer traveled to Shumba-Mjeni, and inspired by the communities efforts promised to rally his community around their third year of project participation.
As the project grows it is becoming increasingly difficult for Community Forests Pemba’s small permanent and occasional staff to attend to all the communities participating. In 2010, if adequate funds are raised, Community Forests Pemba would like to hire Mwalimu Jeffar as a regional coordinator in order to offer support and technical advice to the other communities located in Pemba North. By hiring additional staff, Community Forests Pemba will be able to focus on the future of their activities, insuring that the organization is run on the model of sustainability it practices. If you would like to support initiatives like this, building Community Forests Pemba’s operation capacity, please visit the get involved section of the website to make a donation.
The population of Kiuongoni is 2,663 (1,318 male and 1,345 women) with an average age of 13.9. Kiungoni is located in Wete District.
