As the Transformative Approach to Sustainable Landscapes and Livelihoods (TASLL) project officially winds down, recently key implementation partners gathered for a high-level stakeholder engagement to review achievements, evaluate challenges, and secure a robust sustainability plan.
The TASLL Northern Uganda project targeted the critical conservation of over 65,548 hectares of natural forest in the Agoro-Agu landscape, an area in the Acholi sub-region spanning Lamwo, Pader, Kitgum, and Agago districts. To combat local deforestation, the project set out to sustainably reforest 15,000 hectares by planting 6 million native trees, intentionally extending these restoration efforts into refugee-hosting communities.
While the sudden end of funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) was a major talking point at the engagement meeting, ECOTRUST-leadership made it clear that such contingencies are always incorporated into project design.
“We received word from the donor that they are unlikely to provide additional funding,” noted Freddie Kalibwani, representing ECOTRUST. “However, the design of this project already anticipated its conclusion. We prepared for this exit strategy, and our message today is clear: we are ready. How do you exit a forestry project? You stay with your trees. We are going nowhere because the trees are right here. We are now transitioning from TASLL to Trees for Global Benefit (TGB), falling back on our mother program. Projects may come and go, but we remain. We are committed to staying by the side of these households for another 25 years.”
This structural shift moves local farmers into ECOTRUST’s long-running Trees for Global Benefit (TGB) program. Gerald Kairu, the Head of Programmes at ECOTRUST, emphasized that local communities will receive full support throughout this next phase.
“We are ensuring that the activities don’t stop here, they continue,” Kairu explained. “That’s why we call it transiting from the donor-funded FCDO to the ECOTRUST-supported Trees for Global Benefit project. We are still around, so we shall continue supporting these farmers until they join the carbon project. They sign what they call the carbon sales contracts, not land contracts.”
Over its two-year implementation cycle, the project achieved remarkable milestones across the landscape, conducting home visits to digitally map 5,000 farmers, training 22 local tree nursery operators, and planting a total of 508,820 trees including naturalized species like teak (Tectona grandis) alongside nutritional fruit trees such as jackfruit and avocado.
To drive the adoption of indigenous species, the team conducted 45 community meetings, resulting in the planting of 416,488 native trees across 1,041.22 hectares. Continuous digital tree-tracking proved highly successful, revealing that an exceptional 98.6% of the trees monitored from the 2025 planting season were in good, healthy condition.
Beyond environmental restoration, the project placed a heavy emphasis on social inclusion and household economic resilience. Using Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) tools, 3,430 community members comprising 2,227 males and 1,203 females, were trained in collaborative land-use planning.
ECOTRUST is also moving quickly to establish market-based sustainability enterprises, such as apiculture and shea value chain enterprises, to boost immediate household incomes while communities wait for long-term carbon yields.
“We want to construct a center of excellence in Pader and honey collection centers in Lamwo and Agago,” Kairu highlighted. “The intention is to support our people to improve their livelihood. There’s nothing else to benefit from this the moment you improve somebody’s livelihood, you have done your job.”
To guarantee long-term success, sustainability arrangements will be integrated with District Local Government development plans, working closely with technical and political teams, including; Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs), District Forest Officers (DFOs), District Community Development Officers (DCDOs), Local Council 3 and 5 chairpersons, as well as the National Forestry Authority (NFA), and the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE).
“We are deeply grateful for this project because it has directly contributed to our targets in the District Development Plan, particularly in establishing woodlots and boosting local livelihoods,” said Richard Ociti, the Lamwo District Environmental Officer and project focal person. “The milestones achieved so far are remarkable. Moving forward, our focus is to continue supporting our beneficiary groups to ensure these benefits are sustained, while empowering others to learn and reap as much as they can from this initiative.”
Proscovia Kisembo, the Regional Coordinator for the project, expressed profound gratitude to this institutional network for their unwavering support since the initiative’s inception in 2024.
“I would like to thank the district leadership that has worked with us since 2024, with support towards the mobilization of farmers to participate in the project, supply of seedlings, and monitoring of the planted trees,” Kisembo said. “We look forward to working with the leaders as we head towards the transition.”
While physical project offices in Agago, Lamwo, and Pader will close to streamline costs, operations are consolidating into the regional Kitgum hub, ensuring that the environmental and economic roots planted over the last two years remain permanently anchored in the community.
