The Asociación de Mujeres Ixpiyakok (ADEMI, Ixpiyakok Women's Association) brings together 30 groups of Maya women in Chimaltenango to improve local food security and nutrition through organic family farms and seed banks. Originally launched as a credit and savings program for local women, the association has expanded into health and education service provision, as well as advocacy for w

Through participatory planning and mapping exercises, the agro-pastoralist Itoh community conserves land around the Kilum mountain forest for grazing and agriculture. This forest fragment had previously been under threat from encroachment for timber harvesting and clearing for agriculture; it is the largest remnant of montane forest in the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon's Northwest Province. The

Kalinga Mission for Indigenous Children and Youth Development, Inc. (KAMICYDI) works to improve food security for the indigenous Kalinga people of the Philippines Cordillera, while ensuring the ecological integrity of the area's mountain forests. The association draws from traditional farming practices and customary forest management systems.

These traditional approaches have been augme

Once on the brink of resettlement due to desertification, soil degradation and lack of water, the Abrha Weatsbha community in northern Ethiopia has reclaimed its land through the reforestation and sustainable management of over 224,000 hectares of forest.  Tree planting activities have resulted in improved soil quality, higher crop yields, greater biomass production, groundwater functionin

Aharam Traditional Crops Producers' Company works with socially marginalized rural producers to conserve biodiversity in the semi-arid Ramnad Plains of Tamil Nadu state. The initiative uses a producer group model focused on women and landless labourers to promote organic farming practices that improve crop diversity and agro-biodiversity. The group's work has aimed at reducing dependence on cot

Alimentos Nutri-Naturales Sociedad Anónima (ANSA) is a group of independent businesses, entirely owned and operated by women, which harvest, process, and sell the abundant and rarely utilized Maya nut (Brosimum alicastrum). The nut was once a staple food for the ancient Mayans but is threatened with extinction due to the spread of logging and conversion of land to agriculture. In the buf

Developed as a response to the overexploitation of natural resources, wildlife poaching, and water pollution, the Alliance for Integrated Development Nepal (AID-Nepal) protects and manages the resources of Jagadishpur, an ‘important bird area’, a Ramsar site, and the largest manmade reservoir in Nepal. AID-Nepal works to create sustainable livelihoods wh

Created as a response to land degradation issues resulting from slash-and-burn agriculture, uncontrolled bush fires, and overgrazing, Amical Bè Ôko is a three-village initiative that focuses on the reforestation of the degraded banks of the Kpaya River with palm and fruit-bearing trees to improve local health, nutrition, and food security. Reforestation efforts have restored ecosys

Association Amsing was created by the villagers of Elmoudaa – an Amazirght (Berber) community located in the High Atlas Mountains – to address economic isolation, a lack of social services, and harsh climatic conditions.  The association has successfully regenerated degraded lands surrounding their village through a traditional land management practice called ‘azzayn’ which bans herder

Asociación de Pobladores por el Progreso y Desarrollo de Campo Amor, Zarumilla (ASPOPRODECAZ, Residents’ Association for the Progress and Development of Campo Amor, Zarumilla) represents the 11,000 inhabitants of Campo Amor, a coastal town in the buffer zone of the Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary. The region is a gateway to this important protected area, and home to many communi

Asociación para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Integral (AIDER, Association for Research and Integrated Development) is a participatory initiative that provides capacity building and technology transfer to enable community-based conservation of forest resources across Peru. By providing technical assistance to forest-based communities in both the humid tropical forests of centra

L’Association Adidy Maitso (Adidy Maitso Association) was established in 2005 with the aim of conserving the natural resources of Didy Forest – a dense moist forest of medium altitude in the Alaotra Mangoro region of eastern Madagascar. The forest lies within the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor, which is renowned for its high species endemism and unique biodiversity. The Association wo

Anja Miray was established in 1999 in response to the degradation and clearing of local forests, the sedimentation of water resources, and the loss of wildlife such as ring-tailed lemurs, chameleons, and tropical birds.  The association operates a 30-hectare community forest reserve in the Haute Matsiatra region of the country. 

The community has established an ecotourism init

A response to high rates of poverty, poor access to basic social services, and low employment opportunities, this association is working to strengthen the small-scale fisheries sector around Al-Hoceima National Park through capacity building, the establishment of monitoring and surveillance committees to combat illegal fishing and the introduction of sustainable fis

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Family farming and mushroom cultivation are the twin tools of Association des Pépiniéristes et Planteurs de Tône-Ouest (Association of Nursery Workers and Horticulturists of West Tône) in responding to the land degradation, low agricultural yields,

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Association Tchadienne des Volontaires pour la Protection de l'Environnement was developed to address land and resource rights for women, in response to drought, desertification, and land degradation, and focuses on training in ecosystem restoration, drought preparedness, an

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Developed in response to water scarcity, environmental degradation, declining agricultural yields and high rates of poverty, Association Zoramb Naagtaaba (AZN, Zoramb Naagtaaba Association) brings together 10 villages to restore degraded land through the reintroduction of tr

Café la Selva is a chain of cafés that sell organically and sustainably grown coffee from indigenous Tojolabal and Tzeltales farming communities located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. This pioneering initiative has taken advantage of growing international demand for sustainable, ethically-sourced coffee, and now has cafés in Europe and the United States. Profits from the enterprise have al

The Camalandaan Agroforestry Farmers' Association works to conserve fragments of lowland limestone forest on the Philippines island of Negros through on-farm tree conservation in the Southern Cauayan Municipal Forest and Watershed Reserve. The association is made up of local farmers who have been allocated rights to plots of land by the government as part of a community-based forest management

The Center for Empowerment and Resource Development works in the Caraga region of the Philippines to conserve marine and coastal resources while improving the sustainability of local fisher livelihoods. The Centre's approach has been to put management of natural resources squarely in the hands of fisherfolk associations, working with local governments to develop barangay resolutions, municipal

Centre de Ressources en Agroforesterie de Riba (Riba Agroforestry Resource Centre) is a community-based organization working in mountainous northwest Cameroon, close to Kilum-Ijim Mountain Forest. The Centre promotes sustainable tree-based farming to rehabilitate watersheds and degraded land and generate income for the local community. A rural resource centre provides training in agroforestry a

Centro Alexander von Humboldt (Alexander von Humboldt Center) operates in one of the driest regions of the country and one of the areas most susceptible to natural disasters: hurricanes, severe droughts, and fresh water shortages.  The organization provides local communities with training in sustainable water management and has drilled more than 40 fresh water wells and repaired 35 communi

The Chunoti Co-Management Committee (CMC) protects the once-degraded Chunoti Wildlife Sanctuary through the coordination of volunteer patrols and reinvestment of ecotourism revenues into conservation activities.  Illegal logging and unsustainable resource extraction were threatening the Chunoti forest.  The community mobilized and advocated for a protected area co-management arrangeme

This collective brings together women’s groups from communities bordering the Popenguine Nature Reserve, a 1,000-hectare coastal reserve located in the Thies region of Senegal. Since the creation of the reserve in 1986 to prevent over-harvesting of marine resources and degradation of mangrove forests, the park’s authorities have sought to involve local communities in its management.

This women-led initiative arose in 1998 in response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch on sixteen agrarian Garifuna communities. These peoples of Afro-indigenous descent have traditionally been socioeconomically marginalized in Honduras, and their agricultural livelihoods were hard hit by the loss of 70% of the country's crops due to heavy flooding.

Beyond initial disaster re

In a coastal region of Honduras that has some of the highest rates of poverty in Latin America and that is facing severe environmental threats from the shrimp farming, sugar cane, and commercial fishing industries, Comité para la Defensa y Desarrollo de la Flora y Fauna del Golfo de Fonseca (CODDEFFAGOLF) has been a force for positive change over the last 20 years. With a focus on protec

After a devastating bush fire in 1973, the village of Ando Kpomey created a green belt buffer around its community that has grown into a 100-hectare forest.  A participatory management committee has been established to monitor the forest and its resources and to regulate its use.  The community authorizes limited resource extraction to meet livelihood needs – both timber and non

The Luangwa Valley region of Zambia is the setting for a pioneering initiative that is transforming the local economy and reducing human pressures on the valley's wildlife. Led by the Wildlife Conservation Society, COMACO has brought about substantial livelihoods and conservation benefits through a producer group model of collective learning, reaching more than 40,000 farming households with tr

With the aim of sustainably managing local forests, the Conservation Area Management Committee, Parche is applying indigenous knowledge to local environment and development challenges. In addition to establishing tree nurseries and working with communities to harvest non-timber forest products (NTFPs), the organization has reduced wildlife poaching and is providing alternative energy access for

The Department of Cauca in southern Colombia has suffered from years of armed guerilla conflict, which has left a struggling local economy and high levels of poverty in its wake. The Consorcio Interinstitucional para una Agricultura Sostenible En Ladera (CIPASLA, Inter-institutional Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture) has worked since 1993 to make local agriculture more profitable and

Cooperativa dos Produtos de Ostras de Cananéia (Cooperostra, Oyster Producers’ Cooperative of Cananéia) is a community-based organization centered on the Mandira Extractive Reserve in São Paulo's Cananéia estuary lagoon. Launched in the mid-1990s following state-led interventions aiming at improving the sustainability, viability, and hygienic quality of artisan

The village of Saga, located south of Niamey on the banks of the Niger River, was the initial setting for an innovative experiment in converting a troublesome invasive species in the river basin into an economic opportunity for the local community. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) has clogged local irrigation systems, limited navigability of the river, restricted access to local markets, a

The Farmers' Association for Rural Upliftment (FARU) is an initiative of the Chananaw indigenous people of Kalinga Province in the Philippines. The initiative aims to protect the environmental integrity of the Chananaw's ancestral domain through improved land management and more efficient agricultural techniques. Catalysts for the formation of the initiative included large-scale mining and geot

Since 2005, this federation of women's economic interest groups, centered on the island of Niodior, has worked to rehabilitate mangrove ecosystems and promote natural resource management in the Saloum Delta Biosphere Reserve. The group was founded in response to multiple pressures on the reserve's mangrove and marine resources, and a 22-woman monitoring committee was established to regulate the

The Fédération Régionale des Groupements de Promotion Féminine de la Région de Ziguinchor (FRGPF-Z) has worked since the late 1980s in southwestern Ziguinchor, in a region known as Lower Casamance. The region's wealth of vegetation makes it an important forest reserve in Senegal, including the country's largest population of mangroves.

Twin threats of

Fikambanan’ny Terak’i Manambolo (FITEMA, Association of Manambolo Natives) has used the reintroduction of an indigenous land use system to help conserve forests and wetlands in the 7,500-hectare Manambolo Valley – a forest corridor which joins the Andringitra and Ranomafana National Parks – while improving food security for local communities. The valley's forests are hom

Fundación San Crisanto (San Crisanto Foundation) focuses on mangrove restoration and flood prevention in a region that consistently faces heavy rainfall and flooding. Since the Foundation's establishment, over 11,300 metres of canals have been restored, and 45 cenotes have been delisted and rehabilitated. As a result, flood risk is reduced and populations and diversity of endemic wildlif

Formed in response to a 1998 Lashihai dam project that flooded large areas of farmland and left the Yi indigenous people displaced, Green Watershed has become a model of indigenous self-organization and participatory watershed management. The group responded to displacement by founding four autonomous organizations for sustainable resource management, each of which have achieved remarkable resu

For over 400 years, the grasslands in the Guassa area of Menz in Ethiopia's central highlands were governed under a communal management system known as Qero. In this system, elected headmen determined when and for how long local people could harvest thatch grass and graze their livestock. Following the 1974 revolution and the collapse of the Qero system due to agrarian reform, the Guassa area s

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Since 2001 Heiveld Co-operative has worked with small-scale rooibos tea farmers to provide organic and fair trade certification, as well as support with market access. In response to climate variability, farmers are cultivating drought-resistant varieties of rooibos. Collabo

The Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme, better known by its Swahili acronym HASHI (Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga) ran from 1986 to 2004, with the aim of restoring the degraded Shinyanga region of northwest Tanzania. Christened the "Desert of Tanzania" in the mid-1980s by President Julius Nyerere, the region's miombo woodland had been decimated by decades of forest clearing (partly for tsetse fly e

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

By equipping women with financial and technical resources to restore degraded lands and develop small-scale enterprises, Integrated Development in Focus is improving crop yields and local incomes. Women-led groups have planted three million trees and restored 350 hectares of

Developed in response to land degradation, natural disasters, and irregular water supply, Jeffrey Town Farmers Association employs diverse approaches to inform and educate farming communities on alternative energy options, sustainable agriculture techniques, and disaster risk reduction. The association focuses on land restoration, water harvesting, and organic farming. Fruit-bearing trees are p

Operating adjacent to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, one of Uganda’s oldest rainforests and home to 50 percent of the world’s mountain gorillas, Kayonza Growers Tea Factory is a for-profit community enterprise, 100 percent owned by its 7,205 smallholder tea farmers. Facing deforestation, wetland encroachment, soil degradation, and water shortages, the initiative has worked to en

On an archipelago off the east coast of Sumatra that has been devastated by tin mining and unmitigated industrial development, Kelompok Peduli Lingkungan Belitung is working to rehabilitate, protect, and sustainably manage coastal resources. Community management of coral reefs, mangroves, fishing zones, and tropical forests has led to improved livelihoods and the restoration of a unique marine

Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO) has worked with rural communities on the Kikuyu Escarpment in Kenya since 1996, with a primary focus on forest conservation and reforestation in response to human pressures on the escarpment's forests. The organization has evolved beyond this initial focus, however, into a flexible delivery mechanism for donor-funded interventions and a powerful vehicle for

Kwetu Training Centre is based in Kenya's coastal district of Kilifi, where it uses a model demonstration site and extensive youth group engagement to promote sustainable environmental management of the coast's mangrove forests. This has incorporated voluntary reforestation efforts and the development of silviculture activities based around the mangrove ecosystems, such as crab farming, bee kee

This association of 27 village water committees located in the southern buffer zone of Honduras’ Pico Bonito National Park oversees the management of micro-watersheds and trains the local community in reforestation, conservation and the application of environmentally friendly technologies.  A primary focus is ensuring local access to potable water in a region prone to shortages. 

Pafuri Camp is a community-led ecotourism initiative in the northern part of the Kruger National Park that provides a wide range of activities, including game drives, night drives, walks and wildlife hides. Revenues from Pafuri Camp are used in both community development projects, as well as biodiversity conservation initiatives.

Pafuri Camp takes a participatory approach to ecotourism,

Mara River Water Users Association is a community-based water resources management organization whose primary objectives are to promote the protection and conservation of the Mara Catchment area, support the sustainable and efficient use of water, assist relevant authorities with water resources management and issuance of water use permits, and water conflict resolution.

The Association

The Medicinal Plants Association protects and cultivates endemic species of medicinal plants in the St. Catherine Reserve in Sinai and aims to create livelihood alternatives for the area’s economically marginalized Bedouin population.  The reserve contains several unique and endangered medicinal plant species which have been threatened by overharvesting, collection for use as fuel, and overg

Mradi Wa Mfuko Wa Dhamana Ya Hifadhi Ya Mazingira Na Wamasai Jangwani (MWCT, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust) preserves the wilderness, wildlife, and cultural heritage of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem – an important migration corridor between two national parks.  The organization of Maasai communities has mitigated unsustainable practices such as overgrazing and water-intens

Between 1998 and 2003, this IUCN-led intervention in the Rufiji Delta area of Tanzania worked through the Rufiji District Council to develop village environment management plans in consultation with local communities. The project oversaw the effective transfer of resource management authority from the central government to four pilot villages comprising communities in the floodplain and delta a

The Marshall Islands is one of the most vulnerable nations in the world to the impacts of climate change and has economies that are dependent on declining fisheries. Comité des ressources locales de l’atoll de Namdrik is promoting a model of community self-sufficiency, local food security and adaptation.  Traditional crops such as breadfruit, taro and native pandanus have been

This network of marine and terrestrial protected areas spanning the Vanuatu islands of Nguna and Pele has brought together local, national and international actors in a diverse partnership for the conservation of the area's unique biodiversity. The network comprises sixteen indigenous communities engaged in the conservation of more than 3,000 hectares of marine and terrestrial resources.

Nguzobe Ndi-Oji-Obere (Smallholders Foundation) promotes sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation through educational radio programmes. Smallholder Farmers Rural Radio broadcasts daily programs on agricultural management, environmental conservation, and market access, which reach over 250,000 smallholder farmers. Broadcasts are done in the local Igbo language, and reach listeners

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Northern Rangelands Trust is a network of 26 community conservancies – which together cover over 25,000 km² of land in northern Kenya – driving a movement of community-based conservation that puts indigenous communities at the forefront of land management, w

Focused on women-led restoration of the degraded mangroves of the Equatorial African Rainforest, Organisation pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable (OPED, Organization for the Environment and Sustainable Development) is transforming the local fishing industry by promoting sustainable shrimp aquaculture and providing energy-efficient alternatives to cutting down trees to

Extreme weather and droughts have historically brought the Borena and Gabra pastoral tribes into conflict over pasture land, water, and natural resources. The Oromia Pastoralist Association (OPA) was created to facilitate the cross-border mobility of pastoralist tribes between Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya and is helping to address land disputes, resource conflicts, and the barriers thes

On the arid rangelands of the Marsabit area of northern Kenya, the livelihoods of pastoralist groups are subject to threats from overgrazing, land use change, social instability, and climate change. Pastoralist Integrated Support Programme (PISP), a local NGO, has worked since 1996 to increase the number of water points that can provide safe and reliable water for livestock and people, while st

This community-based organization operates in the forests of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. While the customary land rights of the association's indigenous Kayan people are recognized by the Malaysian government, many lands have not been officially demarcated, making them vulnerable to conflicting claims from outside interests. Members of the association work with GIS survey and mapping techno

This community-based organization was founded in the mid-1980s to reverse the effects of destructive mangrove harvesting near the coastal village of Pred Nai. A parallel goal was the recovery of local crab populations, which are an important source of income for poorer members of the community. After developing a strong track-record of successful forest management and ecosystem restoration, the

Programa de Campesino a Campesino has operated throughout Nicaragua since the post-war period of the early 1990s, as part of the worldwide Via Campesina movement which advocates for food sovereignty, agrarian reform, and democratic governance of food production systems.

The Farmer-to-Farmer Program in the northern municipality of Siuna is one of sixty-five such programs in Nicaragua whi

This Maasai group ranch in the central Kenyan district of Laikipia has established an 8,645-hectare community-conserved area that balances the needs of local pastoralists with wildlife conservation and the operation of a lucrative eco-lodge. One of the pioneering and most successful of Kenya's Maasai-owned ecotourism initiatives, Il Ngwesi has served as a model for replication across the countr

In one of the most remote and poorest provinces in Afghanistan, the Rural Green Environment Organization is working with over 40,000 people across an area of 1,500 square kilometers and 90 villages to promote a model of community development that is based on peace building, environmental regeneration, sustainable livelihoods, and wildlife prot

In the low-lying northwestern region of Bangladesh, a mosaic of wetland ponds and waterways make travel extremely difficult, particularly during the monsoon season when extensive flooding occurs. To address this challenge, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha operates a fleet of 54 solar-powered boats to deliver services that range from schools to agricultural extension centers. The vessels are able to

The Sociedades Cooperativas de Producción Pesquera de Cozumel y Vigía Chico (Fish Production Cooperative Societies of Cozumel and Vigia Chico), are two cooperatives working in the Mexican State of Qintana Roo to advance a model of sustainable fishing for local communities. Located on the tropical island of Cozumel, an international tourist destination, and in the Sian Ka'an Biosph

A federation of Wapichan communities in Guyana, South Central People's Development Association has developed an innovative land use plan and a 'living digital map' of their traditional lands to promote secure land rights and socioecological resilience. Community mapping teams create territorial maps that are used to make land claims and devise collective land use plans for the forest, mountain,

To safeguard the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve – an area that is roughly the size of Taiwan – this grassroots initiative employs locally-nominated volunteers known as pendebas from each of the 406 villages within the protected area to promote environmental conservation, improve family health, advance options for income generation, and organize collective action for common good

Timu ya Rasilimali ya Jamii ya Ujamaa (Ujamaa Community Resource Team) works across northern Tanzania to help secure land and resource rights for pastoralist, agro-pastoralist, and hunter-gatherer communities, many of whom are negatively affected by the existence of the country's large protected areas. The group's approach has capitalized on Tanzania's village land legislation, which allow

Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) partners with local communities to promote sustainable income generation and co-management of both forest and marine resources in the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor, a conservation area covering approximately 739,650 acres of land and the equivalent of 100,000 acres of sea.

From its volunteer-led beginning, TIDE has grown to include

The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) was concerned about the rapid depletion of rice diversity in the Jeypore tract of the Indian state of Orissa, once the home of the largest number of rice varieties in India. In 1998, the foundation undertook to improve the condition of poor farmers while revitalizing vanishing rice varieties, combining modern and traditional approaches for the co

Trowel Development Foundation is a community-based organization employing climate-adapted aquaculture technology to replant mangroves. Mangrove reforestation efforts have focused on planting native tree species in strategic areas, resulting in restored marine biodiversity, food security, and protection of coastal areas.

The initiative also works to increase local incomes and improve liv

Facing sea level rise, food shortages due to saltwater flooding, and other threats associated with climate change, this organization has organized for the voluntary relocation of the indigenous peoples of the Carterets Islands.  This is one of the first community-driven ‘climate change refugee’ relocation efforts in the region. Sustainable natural resource management is at the

Working in the areas surrounding Lake Urmia – the world’s second largest hyper-saline lake  and the largest inland wetland in Iran – the Umbrella Group of Naghadeh NGOs addresses water management issues that include wetland restoration, adaptation to droughts, farm irrigation, and sedimentation in canals. Although previous efforts to restore the rapidly disappearing Lake

Union Soamitambatra is using a traditional consensus-based Malagasy governance system, known as fokonolona, and community social contracts, known as dina, to regenerate the Badika forest and its surrounding lakes. Working with 6,589 people across ten villages, the union brings together community user groups, technical experts, municipal government, and private sector partners

Developed in response commercial logging pressures and a lack of public services, the Wanang Conservation Area is an alliance of ten indigenous, rainforest-dwelling clans that together protect 10,000 hectares of forest for biodiversity research, carbon storage, and sustainable livelihoods. The initiative maintains a 'forest dynamics plot', where they have planted more than 280,000 trees to stud

This community-managed wildlife sanctuary consists of a 34-km stretch of riverine forest, floodplain, and savannah woodland along the Black Volta River, in northwestern Ghana. Created in 1998 in response to the decline of hippopotami in the region due to high levels of hunting, the sanctuary has used revenue from ecotourism to deliver infrastructure investments for the residents of its seventee

Working with nine downstream villages that have collectively faced severe water shortages, extreme droughts, and seasonal crop failures, Water Users Association (WUA) “Ob Umed”, or Water is Hope in English, is working towards the establishment of an equitable water distribution system based on traditional water rights, distribution rules, and the communal maintenance of local water

In the midst of armed conflict, the Inga indigenous peoples of Aponte – a population of 3,600 – successfully fought to recover their sovereignty and rights ove

Yayasan Kerang Lestari Teluk Pemuteran (Pemuteran Bay Coral Protection Foundation) was started in response to the collapse of the local fishing industry near the Pemuteran community in Bali, due in large measure to coral reef loss from sedimentation, rising water temperatures, and unsustainable fishing methods such as reef bombing.  The organization oversees more than 70 artificial ‘

Zenab for Women in Development is a grassroots organization that has organized local women into a farmers union.  Started in 2005, the union has grown from 300 women in six communities to 3,000 women in 53 communities across Sudan.  Smaller cooperatives make up the larger union, each of which provides a platform for female farmers to improve agricultural productivity and to exchange environme