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Based on a Study to Measure Global Impact 2021-2023

Table of Contents

Plant With PurposeCommunity Designed RestorationEconomic EmpowermentEnvironmental Restoration Spiritual Renewal Case Study: Democratic Republic of the Congo Measuring Impact
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Since 1984, Plant With Purpose has been committed to holistic, sustainable development through local empowerment, regenerative agriculture, reforestation, economic resilience, and spiritual renewal. Our vision is to see people and planet thriving, to the glory of God.
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Plant With Purpose
Celebrates 40 Years of Learning

Every three years since 2008, we have conducted a comprehensive Impact Evaluation to measure the impact of the program activity and farmer action in our partner communities. The Impact Evaluation focuses on three areas: Economic Empowerment, Environmental Restoration, and Spiritual Renewal, guided by our Theory of Change.

At Plant With Purpose, we understand that good intentions are not enough. This year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary – that’s forty years of growth, and our fair share of mistakes too. We are committed to learning from every disappointment and insight, consistently refining our model through monitoring and evaluation to ensure our work is truly effective. By looking at the data, and talking with the people in each watershed, we pursue accountability both to you and the farmers we serve.

Ultimately, rigorous monitoring and evaluation are acts of stewardship.

Thank you for diving into the data and evaluating our work with a careful eye. We invite your questions, your scrutiny, and your accountability. We know our model is impactful, but we also know we can always do better. In the end, what matters most is what we will do in the future, informed by this research. Thank you for being on the journey with us.

For People & Planet,
Bob & Corey

Robert Morikawa, Senior Director - Innovation Lab
Corey Chin, Director of Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
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Measuring impact

Between 2020 and 2023, the Plant With Purpose team gathered data and participant testimonies for this 2024 Triennial Impact Report. And while we are documenting the impact of your partnership, our primary goal through this study is to discover what’s working, and how we can improve our efforts with the people we serve. Throughout this report, you will also discover impact data from other research we have conducted. Learn more about the methodology applied in this study. We’ve also included a complete case study on our work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"I have learned how to use sustainable techniques . . . they have become the keys to our economic success. Schooling, medical care, and feeding my family are no longer a major concern for me." 
- Divine, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Reversing Poverty and Deforestation
One Watershed at a Time

*Median crop yield data for median increase for Burundi, Tanzania, Haiti and the Dominican Republic - 2015-2017
55%
Of Households

Saturation

The participation of total eligible families within a watershed averages 55%

Community Design Restoration

People often ask how we achieve the results we do. What makes our programs successful? It is a signature approach that we call Community Designed Restoration (CDR), which integrates economic development, environmental restoration, and community empowerment. CDR fosters community ownership and widespread behavior change; simultaneously addressing the root causes of poverty and deforestation within a watershed.
Click a box below to learn more.
Thriving People
CDR increases the long-term economic and social well-being of smallholder farming families through improved food security, and increased agricultural production through agroforestry, tree growing, and regenerative farming.
Healthy Ecosystems
Land is revitalized at the farm and landscape level by growing and planting appropriate trees, increasing biodiversity, promoting environmental resilience, and ensuring the availability of vital ecosystem services such as sufficient clean water and fertile soil.
Climate Resilience
CDR builds the resilience of the environment and all its residents against the worsening impacts of climate change.

How do you choose where to work?

Potential watersheds are identified by Plant With Purpose based on levels of poverty, the degree of land degradation/deforestation, the slope of the hillside farms, and the desire of people within the community to work with us and one another toward positive change. We also seek to work in regions that are often overlooked - where people truly are underserved.

A Watershed Model

We begin by identifying a target watershed. Life in a watershed is interconnected. Working within a watershed is an impact multiplier that benefits the entire region, long-term, not only program participants.

Built on Purpose Groups

The foundation for CDR in these communities is the creation of neighborhood small groups (12-33) that we call Purpose Groups. The three-fold approach of Purpose Groups makes the deep systemic impact of Community Designed Restoration possible.
Click a box below to learn more.
A Savings Group
A Savings Group
that fuels financial literacy, resilience, and economic opportunity.
A Farmer Field School
A Farmer Field School
where neighbors collaboratively learn regenerative farming techniques that significantly improve soil health, crop yields, nutritional diversity, and income.
A Spiritual Community
A Spiritual Community
where faith, encouragement, and support create the unity that fuels individual achievement and community-wide change.

Economic Empowerment

“My income and my quality of life has improved. Now I have savings. I have skills from training that I didn’t know before. The money I used to spend on gambling is now being saved or used on my house. My income has grown by 80% and the quality of my life has improved.”
- Genaro, Dominican Republic

What does poverty look like?

Poverty is not about money alone

To effectively measure our efforts, we evaluate 12 key indicators across six areas. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is based on recognized benchmarks used in global development. This approach to assessing poverty alleviation is more meaningful, balanced, and comprehensive than the use of any single metric, like income, alone.
55%
Poverty Reduction
On average, Plant With Purpose participants experienced a 55% reduction in poverty
The success of Purpose Groups is contagious! Even non-participants are changed for the better when they live in a Plant With Purpose program watershed.
91%
In the Dominican Republic, watershed participants saw a 91% drop in poverty
(among 3+ year participants)
Globally, an average of 55% of the residents in a watershed participate in our program. With this level of saturation, the watershed as a whole experiences a transformative impact, including a reduction in poverty as neighbors share with neighbors. Church and school partnerships also help spread and reinforce the principles being shared in the program. As a spillover effect, even non-participants living within the watershed experience a reduction in poverty - the entire community benefits!

Critical Resilience
for now and the future

Economic, environmental and spiritual advancement happens for individuals, families and entire communities. Families experience improvements in basic needs: Eating regular, nutritious meals, having safe, livable housing, sending kids to school, and building savings to manage emergencies or support business opportunities.
Participants are creating a resilient and growing future for their families.
Participants are 167% more likely to save cash than comparison.
Participants have 225% more savings than comparison.
Participants have 24% more income sources than comparison.
“My income and my quality of life has improved. Now I have savings. I have skills from training that I didn’t know before. The money I used to spend on gambling is now being saved or used on my house. My income has grown by 80% and the quality of my life has improved.”
- Genaro, Dominican Republic
Healthier Lives
Reducing poverty impacts the frequency, amount, and nutritional diversity of the food families eat.
Participant families eat 14% more meals per day than comparison.
Participants families are 23% less likely to reduce meal portion size than comparison.
44%
Participant households are 44% more likely to send the girls in their families to secondary school than the comparison.
Closing the Gender Gap
Women produce 60% to 80% of food worldwide.* We are committed to helping female farmers thrive. Research indicates that women consistently receive less access to agriculture extension services. Plant With Purpose actively works to close the gender gap.

Our past findings indicate that women demonstrated greater change than men across all three areas: economic empowerment, environmental restoration, and spiritual renewal.

And while all participants experienced an increase in income diversity compared to the comparison group, female participants saw a 267% greater increase in income diversity compared to male participants in 2020.**
*UN Food and Agriculture Organization
**Gender analysis based on 2020 Impact Data.
94%
In Mexico participant families are 94% less likely to reduce meal portion size than the comparison group.
93%
In the DR Congo participant families eat 93% more meals than the comparison group.

Environmental Restoration

Reforestation:
     Planting Trees
            is just the Beginning

Plant With Purpose participants are planting trees
Planting trees is a critical part of Plant With Purpose’s environmental restoration activities. Trees contribute to cleaner and more abundant water, improved soil health, and increased crop yields through agroforestry techniques (planting trees with crops). Reforestation also helps to prevent erosion and sequester carbon, contributing to the renewal of entire ecosystems. Participating farmers plant trees on farms, in common areas and in forests, ultimately transforming an entire watershed.
300 trees
Participants planted an average of 300 trees in the last 12 months; comparison group planted 35
1,019% more
In Haiti, Plant with Purpose farmers planted, 1019% more trees versus the comparison. Farmers reported planting 81 trees in the past year compared to 7 for the companion group.
9X
More Trees Planted
Participant farmers in Plant With Purpose watersheds plant 9 times more trees than the comparison group
Native Trees Planted
71% participants
22% comparison
Percentage of respondents who said they planted native trees in the last 12 months
More trees surviving
67% participants
56% comparison
A Powerful Cycle
Changes like these benefit partner families, communities and entire watersheds, creating a powerful cycle for long-term impact. A key aspect of the Plant With Purpose watershed approach is the idea of “saturation.” When enough farmers in a watershed are part of Purpose Groups, planting trees, applying regenerative farming practices, protecting soil and forests, and sharing their knowledge with others, a multiplier effect takes place beyond individual farm plots and has a transformative impact on the entire watershed.

Bringing Life Back to the soil

Regenerative agriculture
& trees =
millions of acres of land protected and/or restored.
In the watersheds where we work, families are trained to apply regenerative agriculture techniques to make both short-term and long-term changes to their land. They’re bringing life back to the soil! As you can imagine, farming on degraded land is challenging. The heat, irregular rainfall and extreme weather events connected to climate change make this problem even worse. It means farmers work harder each year but generate less food and income. Erosion, and conventional farming practices such as tillage or burning, plus increased dependence on chemical inputs can further degrade the soil and the surrounding environment.

Revitalizing Farms & Communities
When farmers start to think and act differently, it’s a game changer. Compared to the control group, families in participant watersheds apply restorative practices at a far greater rate. Globally, our partners rate their soil health 28% better than the comparison group, and 64% more of their land is protected by regenerative agriculture or by planting trees.
67%
Less Field
Burning
Plant With Purpose participants are 67% less likely to burn their fields for planting than the comparison
99%
Better
Soil
In the DR Congo, participants rated the health of the soil on their land as 4.3 (on a scale of 1-5). Tthe comparison group who rated their soil health 2.2.
37% Higher Crop Yields
Regenerative agriculture techniques contribute to 37% higher crop yield (measured in a separate Plant With Purpose study*), increasing farmer income and quality of life for their family and community—thereby reducing poverty.

Farmer Field Schools allow participating farmers to test and co-develop regenerative agricultural practices. These practices rebuild healthy soil, increasing long-term crop diversity and crop yield—and in turn, revitalize farms and shared land throughout the watershed.
*Median crop yield data for median increase for Burundi, Tanzania, Haiti and the Dominican Republic - 2015-2017
83%
Increase in Regenerative agriculture
The adoption rate of regenerative agricultural techniques is 83% greater than the comparison.
Living Barriers (90% More Likely)
Mechnical Barriers (232% More Likely)
Planting Trees with Crops (39% More Likely)
Living Fences (61% More Likely)
Compost (149% More Likely)
Reduced Tillage (425% More Likely)
Mulch (71% More Likely)
Woodlots (112% More Likely)
Plant With Purpose participants apply 83% more regenerative agriculture techniques than comparison (4.1 techniques vs 2.3 techniques)

Spiritual Renewal

Faith is expressed in how we respond to god, how we see ourselves, and in our actions towards others

Reflecting the Creator
One of the wonderful results of our work is the increased sense of purpose and value our participants experience in their lives and communities.

We’ve seen that changed attitudes lead to changed actions. Our participants understand that their faith is not just about attending a church on Sunday but rather that their relationship with God impacts every aspect of their lives. As communities champion these values, there is a mindset shift that leads to transformative action.

When we look at the attitudes and behaviors of our participants versus the comparison group, we see they’re also experiencing increased personal agency and improved reconciliation in their lives, families, and communities.
75%
75% of participants in our Mexico program (versus 26% of the comparison group) say, “My community works together to fix things that are wrong in my community.”
100%
100% of participants in Tanzania agree with the statement, "The work I do now is a good use of my talents." 16% more than the comparison.
“I used to be the one begging for food, but now I can help feed the less fortunate. My children are healthy and study well. My relationship with God is different after joining the group. I was an angry person who drank alcohol, now I am free from life’s stress. I am no longer the person I used to be.”
- Gertrude, Tanzania
23%
Increased Compassion
Globally, participants report helping their neighbors 23% more often than comparison.
“[Collaboration] allows people to learn from each other, allows us to resolve many problems, and allows us to live together without complications. We resolve our conflicts well, and will never return to division.” —partnering farmers in a community workshop in Haiti

“All things are possible if we work together in unity to bring about desired change.” — partnering farmers in a community workshop in Tanzania
Increased personal agency
Greater sense of self-confidence to change their lives
Plant With Purpose participants reported an increased sense of agency, personal value, and belief in their ability to fulfill their potential.

Another way to see spiritual renewal is in reconciliation. Restored relationships with God, ourselves, others, and the land are foundational to Plant With Purpose. From 2020 to 2023, our program countries witnessed instability, including the worldwide COVID pandemic along with increased drought and conflict in several countries. But participants continue to report increased confidence in their community’s ability to resolve problems.

Peacemaking and local church partnerships
“We will never return to division”

Participants report a greater sense of unity, responsibility, honesty, and trust across more than 1,000 local church partners. We actively partner with local churches to support communities and together, work toward the spiritual renewal of individuals, families, watersheds and countries.

In spiritual renewal workshops, we invite a group of community leaders and pastors to share stories of reconciliation or healed relationships within their watersheds.

Case Study

Case Study:
Democratic Republic of the congo

82%
Program Participation
of total watershed
family population
About the Study:
This case study is the result of a three-year difference-in-differences study* comparing changes in 5 treatment subwatersheds (Luvubu, Luberizi, Sange, Kiliba, and Ngovi–home to 107,000 people) and a control watershed from August 26, 2020, through October 7, 2023 (Separate from our 2024 Global Impact Study). The difference-in-differences methodology used in this study allows us to understand the impact of our program in this area, separate from external factors at play across the region.

The Congo River Basin is one of the most critical biodiversity hotspots on the planet. Home to the world’s second-largest rainforest and many endangered species, it is also home to millions of people, many of whom live in conditions of extreme poverty.

While these numbers are dramatic, what’s more dramatic is the change that this represents for the people and landscapes in these watersheds.
Note: In 2022, a severe drought impacted much of Africa, including the DRC, resulting in a state of emergency. This drought exacerbated existing environmental degradation and food insecurity, already heightened by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The scope of this study spanned this crisis period, which is reflected in the data.
2,275,326
Total Trees Grown*
*During three year study period
in the five program wastersheds
326,179 acres
Total Area
Protected or
under restoration
75%
Poverty Reduction
In the DR Congo in three years for total watersheld population (including non-participants)
A Movement of Restoration
Environmental stewardship, tree planting, and regenerative agriculture are all critical elements of the Plant With Purpose model. By addressing poverty, a significant driver of deforestation and environmental damage in this region, we are seeing lives improve and making long-term positive environmental impact. This impact extends beyond the immediate benefits, bringing hope and opportunity to tens of thousands of families and creating a movement of systemic change that will continue well beyond the program duration.


*Baseline measurements for each question were taken at the beginning of the study period in September 2020.

How We Measure

FOR THE TRIENNIAL IMPACT STUDY,
we monitored results and evaluated data collected through three distinct methods: Participatory Workshops, Quantitative Household Surveys, and Remote Sensing Analysis of the landscape.​
Participant Workshops
Plant With Purpose takes a highly relational approach to our work which is also true of our Impact Study. Workshops are conducted in each country with Purpose Group members, schools, churches, and community leaders representing a cross-section of voices in both treatment and comparison watersheds. Program participants shared their experiences and observations identifying key changes in their land, lives, and community, through facilitated discussion, open-ended questions, and mapping exercises.
Household Surveys
We use surveys of randomly selected households in participating and comparison communities. Impartial, third-party surveyors are hired to increase the objectivity of the data. Survey questions are tested and validated, including the translations. All respondant participation is voluntary and completed in less than 30 minutes. The random sample size is large enough to result in data precision of 7.5% with a 95% confidence level in the results.
Remote Sensing Analysis
We use satellite data to measure landscape changes over time. Plant With Purpose uses both NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and percent tree cover (which estimates how much land is covered by trees) as indicators. These methods are widely used in forestry, agriculture and ecology.

Program Countires

As of 2024 we are also working in Malawi, which is not included. For this report, data from Ethiopia was limited as regional conflict did not allow for workshops or survey taking.
We are honored that our work has been recognized by multiple monitoring organizations and is aligned with the world’s most significant environmental restoration and poverty alleviation efforts. 
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