(Description)
The FUTURES: My Forest, My Livelihood, My Family project is a multi-sectoral initiative launched in 2021 by CARE Ethiopia and its partners (ECFF, KULICH, and ODA) to protect the Yayu Forest Coffee Biosphere Reserve.
Funded by the Packard Foundation, the project addresses the critical intersection of environmental degradation, economic instability, and limited healthcare in the Illubabor and Buno Bedele zones.
By integrating Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services into schools and Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), the project has reached over 16,000 youth and improved family planning outcomes by 15%.
Economically, it has empowered nearly 4,000 women to save millions of Birr and transition into licensed producer groups, while simultaneously promoting climate-smart agriculture and Participatory Forest Management (PFM).
This holistic approach has not only restored over 53 hectares of degraded land but also transformed unemployed youth into resilient entrepreneurs through beekeeping and seedling production, providing a scalable global model for balancing human development with forest conservation.