PRB

Health of People and the Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE LVB), a project implemented by Pathfinder International with local partners, is a model for integrated population, health, and the environment (PHE) development in the region. PRB supports HoPE LVB and provides technical assistance to its policy communication activities.

On March 8, the group celebrated International Women’s Day with a booth at the Kabale District’s International Women’s Day event in Uganda. Nalongo, a project beneficiary, managed the booth and demonstrated how HoPE LVB is empowering women and girls in her community through activities ranging from soap making to producing clean cookstoves to tree farming. These activities help promote environmental conservation and allow women to earn additional income, which they use to pay for school fees, health care, and food that provides balanced diets for their families.

Later that month, on March 21, HoPE LVB led efforts to plant hundreds of trees in Homabay County, Kenya, to commemorate International Day of Forests. HoPE LVB brought together community members from Homabay county, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, schools, and county employees to discuss the challenges that population growth, deforestation, and food insecurity pose to Homabay County.

Finally in April, HoPE LVB welcomed representatives from Kenya’s National Council on Population and Development (NCPD) to Homabay County for a knowledge-exchange visit. County population coordinators and the national PHE coordinator from NCPD visited model households where community members practice environmentally sustainable livelihoods and other sound environmental habits which fit into the PHE model, such as utilizing pit latrines and voluntary family planning.