Origin

The concept behind this campaign was born in the field in late 2006 based on input from local women.

At the time, Sagun Saxena and Shashank Verma (later co-initiators of this campaign) were entering their second year of field-based research on sustainable BioFuel production from tree-borne oilseeds at their R&D site in central Maharashtra.  This work was the continuation of academic work that had started in 2004 at Oxford University on triple-bottom-line or social enterprise models for sustainable development.

Women had been hired regularly from the local village and they had been instrumental in preparing the rocky and sloping land for trial plots, transplanting saplings, administering experimental treatments, and routine maintenance work. The men had shown tremendous interest at first, helping to survey the R&D site, lay out plots and dig pits, but they had soon lost interest.  Some were skeptical of the team's intentions, and many doubted that oilseed trees that grow so abundantly in the wild could produce anything of enough value to justify this effort.

The women were more patient and diligent in caring for the trees.  As most of the transplanted saplings established themselves, started growing visibly during the monsoon, and then survived the intense summer heat the following year, a certain sense of pride and accomplishment developed among the women. 

The men regained interest too. They were particularly impressed by the variation in growth that was apparent in the trials due to the use of different planting materials and inputs. They suggested traditional practices to better trap moisture, prevent erosion, and reduce planting and maintenance costs. Several requested elite planting material to grow commercially on their own higher quality land and were disappointed at being told that R&D material would not be released until testing was complete, and that in any case, tree planting would not be supported on land used for food production.

The women saw things differently: they knew the trees could grow on poor land "first-hand" and liked the fact that the trees did not require daily care.  This meant there was a potential to create a new income stream from their own wasteland that usually lay idle. But they also knew that they would need financial and technical help to  plant and maintain the trees, and maybe even sell the harvested oilseeds. It was when the women first asked for help with this that the concept of a large donor-driven campaign to help the absolutely poorest families plant trees on their wastelands was born.

Development

Progress began in earnest in early 2007 with the appointment of Seva Fumoux as full-time director for developing the program and the launch of several field-based planning activities with support of partners and graduate student interns. 

When discussions with existing large Indian nonprofits about incubating the campaign within their organisations failed to progress at sufficient pace, Seva, Sagun and Shashank decided to establish a new non-profit to sponsor the campaign, called the CleanStar Trust for Sustainable Development .

Throughout the remainder of 2007, the campaign design developed through consultation with local NGO leaders, existing Self-Help-Group networks, and forestry and development experts. Successful and unsuccessful community forestry models in India and other countries were studied to draw lessons.  Tree-planting pilots involving about 50,000 trees were conducted, and nearly 50 villages were surveyed.  Agroforestry models and other tree species were evaluated to provide other benefits to local communities, and added to the campaign approach. A large nursery was set up to supply saplings for tree-planting.

In early 2008, the groundwork was put in place for a full pilot project in 1 village in the 2008 monsoon season (July-August).
 

Roadmap:

2008:  Pilot project in 1 village
2008:  Fundraising drive launched
2009:  Expand campaign in 14 more villages (1 million trees target)
2010:  International project started
2012:  Partnerships with NGOs in India and abroad to “franchise” campaign model (10 million trees target)

 

 

 

 

contact us

newsletter

donate

An initiative of CleanStar Trust, a non-profit organisation registered in New Delhi, India
© 2008 CleanStar Trust