Each year, ARC’s Executive Director, Kate Mcletchie, travels half way around the world to Tanzania to visit our field partner, the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG). This year (our 20th!) has been one of great strides and accomplishments, however there is still plenty of work to be done. During Kate’s two week visit, she will meet with TFCG’s executive staff, field officers, and beneficiaries to better understand project successes, challenges, and current and future community needs. She will also document projects using photo, video, and storytelling, and most exciting – meeting with communities who will participate in our 2011-2012 million tree planting campaign!

Ask Kate!
Ever wondered about the flora and fauna of Tanzania’s rainforests? What about sustainable development initiatives and working with local communities? You can follow Kate’s journey from New York City to the Eastern Arc rainforests on Twitter and Facebook. Feel free to leave a question in either place and we’ll do our best to answer it from the field. We’ll have plenty of updates, so stay tuned!

For now, here are some highlights of what Kate will be doing these next two weeks:
Sept. 12: JFK to Dar es Salaam. The adventure begins!

Sept. 13-15: In Dar es Salaam to meet with partners at the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, an NGO made up of over 50 professional foresters, biologists, and communicators.

Sept. 16: To Lindi, where 15 villages are working towards a community driven REDD project.

Sept. 17: Visit the site of the new health clinic in Kikomolela! This GlobalGiving project will provide health services to nearly 2,500 people.

Sept. 18: To Nandambi to visit community-based projects.

Sept. 19: Quick stop in Dar es Saalam and back on the road again.

Sept. 20-21: In South Ngurus to view an intertwined system of Participatory Forest Management.

Sept. 22: Back on the road. We have a 10 hour drive ahead of us to reach our next destination.

Sept 23: In Uzungwa Mountains, the “biodiversity treasure house” to assess the threats to biodiversity.

Sept 24: Visit Uzungwa Scarp.

Sept. 25-26: Kate returns to Dar es Salaam to regroup with TFCG head office staff and plan together for the coming year.

Sept. 27: Dar es Salaam to JFK. Plenty of photos to edit, stories to write up, and blogs to draft on the 20 hour flight back home.