Barbara Gosson from the local newspaper of Nürtingen spoke with our Co-CEO. In this article, Wolfgang Baum shares insights into his youth in Frickenhausen, his experience as a project manager with Fairventures Worldwide in Indonesia, and how the Swabian mentality continues to benefit him in his current role.

When Fairventures Worldwide opened its Uganda office in 2018, the team was quite small. Led by Patience Naamara, one of the first hires was a forestry graduate; James Thembo. Focused on planting trees and building meaningful relationships with communities, their work was challenging yet vital.

Our project, Climate Stories, brings together students in Germany and young people from the Global South. The goal is to make the climate crisis more relatable by allowing those affected to share their stories, concerns, and hopes, motivating and encouraging young people to take action through their engagement.

The Community Nursery in Bwera, located in the Kasese District, is building a school for the local community. By purchasing seedlings from the nursery, Fairventures is helping to create a reliable and long-term source of income. This new primary school is being established in the Rusese area of Bwera, providing children in the rural area with access to education.

In May 2024, Fairventures Worldwide reached out to landowners across Uganda who are eager to plant native tree species in key operational areas. After receiving a strong response, 283 farmers with a total of 433.5 hectares of land were selected to participate in this season’s planting efforts.

Together with 8 other organisations we were nominated for this year's Planet Hero Award by Zurich Insurance. A total of €110,000 in prize money was awarded in the categories of Climate Protection, Biodiversity and Oceans & Water.

Sukrin Uke is one of the farmers in Sumur Mas Village who has implemented agroforestry — a system that allows farmers to plant different types of plants and vegetables simultaneously.

We have adapted our organizational structure. After more than 10 years of work in Indonesia, we supported our Indonesian team in establishing their own organization, the “Good Forest Indonesia” (GFI) Foundation.

Meet Benard Ntajumba, our tree nursery coordinator at Fairventures Worldwide in Uganda.

In an interesting article, Wood Central focuses on Uganda's potential in the timber industry and discusses the projects of Fairventures and the Timber Innovation Center.

We are excited to reflect on the challenges and successes of the year 2023 with you and look together towards a hopeful future.

Protecting the forest means protecting the biodiversity within it: Together with Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the Central Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), we developed HIMBA, an app for collecting and managing biodiversity data.

Two local newspapers, the “Ipf- & Jagst-Zeitung” and the “Schwäbische Post” wrote about our "Climate Stories" project at the high school “Hariolf-Gymnasium”.

Edith Muhindo supports farmers to reforest degraded areas. Edith has been a Farmer Training Facilitator (FTF) at Fairventures Worldwide for four years now and is at the forefront of our activities.

We believe that the well-being of the planet and the local population go hand in hand. With this in mind, we have specifically trained smallholder farmers in harvesting techniques for the Sengon trees they have planted.

Knowledge is key: In this spirit, we hosted a quiz night about forestry and climate topics.

Meet Patience Naamara, the Country Director of Fairventures Worldwide in Uganda, who serves as an inspiration in sustainable forestry solutions against climate change.

Fairventures Worldwide has joined the German Sustainable Economy Association “Bundesverband Nachhaltige Wirtschaft e.V.” in March 2024.

Various media in Uganda, including Nile Post and Capital Radio, reported on our tree planting activities on the International Day of Forests.

On last week's International Day of Forests, Fairventures Worldwide cooperated with Kyambogo University in Uganda to plant a forest of 600 trees on 2 acres of land in the university green belt.

After already producing a special intro video for our “100 Million Trees” project in Indonesia, we now have an introduction video for “Lasting Solutions” in Uganda. Check it out!

We have many great women at Fairventures who help us to make a difference and lead our NGO to great achievements. We are proud to introduce three women in leadership positions in our organisation.

Last week our first cocoa project in Central Kalimantan ended with a very successful workshop event offering promising future possibilities for upcoming cocoa projects.

We regularly exchange ideas with our smallholder farmers; our most recent event took place in the village of Batu Nyapau in the district of Gunung Mas in Indonesia.