30 YEARS OF WORK WITH BEES AND WITH PEOPLE IMPACT REPORT 2022-2023
Impact Report 2022-2023
OUR LOGO When Bees for Development began in 1993 we had already been working in Tanzania where the woodlands and forests are full of bee hives, made from hollowedout logs, bark and baskets. This is extensive, highly sustainable beekeeping, representing hugely efficient use of natural resources, and generating sustainable income from abundant harvests of valuable honey and beeswax, season after season. All the while incentivising people to protect and care for those forests. Therefore, this image of a bee hive in a tree was used to create Bees for Development’s iconic logo. The intention was to convey that our focus is beyond bees towards the whole ecosystem within which bees and people exist – towards our twin aims of achieving less poverty and more biodiversity.
MAKING LIFE BETTER WITH BEES 3
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HELLO Bees really matter – as you read this countless millions of them are assisting us to address our greatest challenges. Beekeeping helps to alleviate poverty, provides good nutrition and medicine, helps to address social inclusion, and encourages people to protect forests and prevent fires. After thirty years of work, all of it aimed at Making Life Better With Bees, we have a wide range of compelling evidence that provides great testament to the power of bees. Bees create economic incentive for humans to care for them, for their habitat and for their food sources – which means that with every new beekeeper trained, we create an environmental champion. If conditions are good for bees, they are good for everything else too! These interdependent relationships – where one good outcome leads to another, are shown in the Bees for Development Virtuous Circle below. We advocate that people draw on the natural and human resources they have around them to create their income from bees – combining local bees, natural materials for hive making, and indigenous knowledge and skills. We call this Nature-based Beekeeping, and this approach makes beekeeping accessible for everyone, regardless of their financial status. We never promote capital-intensive systems, nor encourage donation of equipment made far away. Beekeeping must be accessible to as many people as possible, and every successful trainee becomes an environmental champion!
This Impact Report gives you glimpses of the multiple ways we are able to Make Life Better With Bees. During the past 30 years the funding environment has changed drastically; at our outset we could rely on funding from the UK Government and donors like Comic Relief and The National Lottery. In recent years we have had to change how we raise money, and we do need more funds if we are to continue and to achieve more impact. To attain this we need a louder and stronger voice, so we have recently invested in our capacity to communicate and reach out to potential donors. Nowadays we must engage on social media and develop compelling campaigns to garner further support for our work. We continue strong and determined! We are looking forward to the years ahead – already with skilled teams and so much wonderful support, and with huge opportunities to help address the great challenges of our time. Thank you for reading this summary of our progress and please join us on this journey!
Bees
Biodiversity 1993
People
2023 NICOLA BRADBEAR MBE Bees for Development, Founder and CEO November 2023
Cover image: Ernestina Boateng, a trainee of Bees for Development Ghana | Image credit: Briana Marie Forgie with Photographers Without Borders Ref: 11231
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Impact Report 2022-2023
GOOD FOR PEOPLE GOOD FOR BEES GOOD FOR NATURE
HOW WE MAKE LIFE BETTER WITH BEES Healthy bee populations underpin beekeeping Good habitat supports bees and all wildlife
Beekeeping supports livelihoods
We share information and create training resources – using training posters in Bandah Aceh, Indonesia
Biodiversity
People
We provide skills and knowledge to beekeepers and trainers – here in Ethiopia
Beekeepers maintain bee habitat
Beekeepers earn income through trade We support communities to protect their environment for bees – at work in Ethiopia 4
We facilitate good and fair trade for honey and beeswax – honey traders in Eritrea beesfordevelopment.org
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Bees for Development
Impact Report 2022-2023
30 YEARS OF IMPACT
2023
A glimpse of the hundreds of bee-related projects and interventions that we have worked on during thirty years. 1993 1 April, Bees for Development begins work
1993
2012
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1994
2005 The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation is established
2013
1997 Working in Nepal, India and Hindu Kush Himalaya
1999 Advising UN Food and Agriculture Organization on beekeeping sector in Afghanistan 1999 Commonwealth Secretariat begin support for our work with the beekeeping sector in Uganda
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1995
2005 We win funds from the UK Govt Business Link Challenge Fund – to help Zambia overcome new barriers to selling honey into the EU
2007 We begin Darwin Initiative funded work with Keystone Foundation in India
2005
1996 2003 Advising UN Food and Agriculture Organization on beekeeping sector in Macedonia
2000 Organise our first Symposium at Swansea University: Strengthening livelihoods by means of beekeeping
2011 Working with honey traders in Kenya
2007 2011
2011 The 100th edition of Bees for Development Journal is published: we are distributing to 132 nations
2008
YEARS
2022 We win grant from Darwin Initiative to help farmers in Ethiopia reduce loss of bees due to pesticides 2022 Professor Tom Seeley endorses our Nature-based Beekeeping approach
2015
2015 Bees for Development Ghana established
2020 2009 Advising UN Food and Agriculture Organization on beekeeping sectors in Iraq and Chechnya
2002 Advising World Bank on beekeeping support in BosniaHerzegovina
2022
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TI
2003
1997
1999
2008 Working in southern Sudan towards building sustainable livelihoods for people recovering from civil war
2013 Working with communities in Kyrgyzstan, developing policies and support towards making beekeeping more accessible to pastoralists
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1996 Advising UN Food and Agriculture Organization on beekeeping sector in Iraq
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2006
1994 Research appropriate beekeeping systems for rural poor in Africa
1995 We organise a Symposium within Apimondia Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland – a forest of ‘BfD trees’ appear
2013 Bee Friendly Monmouthshire is launched
2012 Bees for Development Ethiopia established
We celebrate 30 years of work, and with skilled teams and wonderful supporters, we are able to plan confidently for the future. EBRA
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1994 We run our first month-long Tropical Apiculture Course, with students spending time at Cardiff University in Wales and Njiro Wildlife Research Centre in Arusha, Tanzania
2006 We organise a Symposium on African Honey Trade in Uganda, from which was established ApiTrade Africa, a regional network supporting African honey and beeswax trade
2023
2002
2000
2016 2009
2009 Welsh Government support us to begin two years of work in Cameroon, developing honey and beeswax trade 2009 We establish our teaching apiary at Ragman’s Permaculture Farm and begin providing training courses in UK
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2016 Working in Mount Elgon with Welsh Government Funding.
2020 HM The Queen becomes our President, as former Duchess of Cornwall
2010 We begin 5 years of work on honey trade in Uganda, funded by Comic Relief. At almost £0.5m this remains our largest donor-funded project
2017 Working with cashew farmers in Ghana
2010 Working in Rwanda
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2018
2018 We win the Welsh Government Award for Overall Impact, for demonstrating outstanding change to people’s lives in Africa
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1993 – 2003 WHY BEES? One of the first things that Bees for Development had to do was to fight our corner and convince development organisations, donors and governments of the unlikely-sounding truth that beekeeping has the power to improve people’s lives. At that time beekeeping, though widespread (practised in nearly every nation on earth!) was too often considered marginal and unimportant. We succeeded in changing people’s minds and elevating beekeeping as a powerful tool to improve lives and landscapes.
BEEKEEPING SUSTAINS LIVELIHOODS Pollination
Sustainable
Bees pollinate flowering plants - this activity is vital for life on earth. Adequate pollination leads to good quality seeds and fruits, and is essential for maintaining biodiversity.
Beekeeping is non-extractive and sustainable. Beekeepers are friends of the natural environment, willing to collaborate to conserve forests and vegetation where bees live and forage.
Useful products
Benefits for several sectors
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Comparative advantage
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Honey is valued by all societies as a healthy food or medicine. Beeswax is used in cosmetics and candles, and has many other uses. Pollen and propolis may be also harvested from bees.
Land use
Where there are beekeeping activities, other people in the community generate income by making equipment, from selling bee products, and making secondary products.
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Bees visit flowers anywhere, so wild, cultivated and protected areas all have value for beekeeping. Beekeeping does not use up land that could be used for crops.
In areas of developing countries where there are abundant natural resources and healthy bee populations, there are good possibilities to market organic-certified honey.
Low cost
Resilient income
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Income creation
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Gender and age inclusive
sustainable ways. Our focus is on using indigenous species where possible, and building on traditional techniques to find methods that work according resources available. Bees for Development works worldwide, assisting beekeepers Thisto poster has been produced under sponsorship from Anglo American plc, a leading mining and natural resource company. in every continent.
All of our work is based on evidence of what works. This began with research in Tanzania during 1993-1998. With support from UK Government we worked with Njiro Wildlife Research Centre in Arusha, to investigate beekeeping systems. We learnt which approaches were most successful, cost effective and sustainable in the context of helping the poorest people to keep bees to achieve resilient livelihoods.
We recognised that for beekeeping development to achieve impact at scale, we needed to invest in people. That is why, during the 1990’s we delivered training courses in beekeeping for rural development in Arusha, Tanzania and at Cardiff University here in Wales in the UK. Many of the talented and passionate people that we trained went on to lead beekeeping programmes and establish effective organisations in their home nations. Investing in people remains a central tenet of our strategic, global approach to supporting livelihoods and landscapes through beekeeping. Today's beekeeping leaders! Tilahun Gebey, right, Dickson Biryomumaisho below and Kwame Aidoo bottom right
UGANDA
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During the late 1990’s, Bees for Development was invited to conduct a scoping study about the beekeeping sector in Uganda and to make recommendations for the establishment of a national membership organisation. This work revealed there to be huge potential in Uganda for beekeeping to generate additional income for thousands of small-scale farmers and drew attention to weaknesses in previous interventions which had focussed heavily only on bee hive donations, while neglecting indigenous technical knowledge.
Bees can be kept by women and men of all ages. Bees do not need daily care and can be attended to as other work allows.
Where beekeepers have good market access, beekeeping easily generates a profit. This Information Information Poster Poster has hasbeen beenprepared prepared by for Development who work to assist people in developing countries by providing Beesby Development This forBees about apiculture. We believe apiculture a feasible to helpispeople to work way out oftopoverty, ame time while maintaining atout theof s poverty, natural information and advice about that apiculture. We isbelieve that way apiculture a feasible way their to help people work their way biodiversity. Apiculture gives some natural of the world's poorest people the opportunity to harvest (honey and beeswax) while at the same time maintaining biodiversity. Apiculture gives some of the world’s commodities poorest people the opportunity to t quality value. These people havethat little access beekeepingquality information, evenThese though the sector fast evolving, harvestand commodities (honey andusually beeswax) can havetointernational and value. people usuallyis have little access to Bees for Development bee pests and diseases are spread worldwide. beekeeping information, even though the sector is fast evolving, as markets change and honey bee pests and diseases are spread in sustainable ways. Our focus is on using indigenous species where possible, and building on traditional techniques to find m worldwide.available. Bees Bees for Development’s philosophy is to provide look after bees, and harvest from them in resources for Development works worldwide, assistinginformation beekeeperson inhow everytocontinent.
FIRST RESEARCH IN TANZANIA
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INVESTING IN PEOPLE
Beekeeping is resilient when disasters happen. Displaced communities can make hives and gain benefit in a relatively short time. It is not necessary for beekeepers to own land or to be settled permanently.
Beekeeping can be very low cost. Hives and other equipment can be made locally and bees are freely available. Bees do not depend upon the beekeeper for food.
Bees ensure the regeneration of plant life through pollination – which in turn provides food and shelter for wildlife, and food and income for people.
Impact Report 2022-2023
10 GOOD REASONS 6 1 © Roar Ree Kirkevold, Norway
Bees for Development
Bees for Development 1 Agincourt Street Monmouth NP25 3DZ United Kingdom +44 (0)1600 714848 info@beesfordevelopment.org
for for Bees Anglo American plc has extensive interests in developing countries and sees its support
Bees for Development
www.beesfordevelopment.org
Our wonderful partner organisation, The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (TUNADO) was borne out of this work and is now the leading example of a successful beekeeper membership body in sub-Saharan Africa – today delivering effective services to over 1 million beekeepers in Uganda.
We quickly learned that while they are the same species, the behaviour of tropical Apis mellifera honey bees is completely different from those living in temperate zones. Tropical honey bee colonies can afford to be far more mobile, swarming and absconding without fear of a winter dearth period ahead. Therefore, using a large number of low-cost hives is the best approach to make beekeeping easily accessible and most profitable for rural people. We have always maintained our commitment to learning and advocate only approaches which are evidence-based. 8
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Impact Report 2022-2023
2004 – 2013
NEW PREMISES IN MONMOUTH In 2012 we established a new home for Bees for Development within an ancient, listed building at 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth. We opened The Bee Shop, selling honey, beekeeping equipment and bee-related gifts made by creators, designers and artists.
BEES, BIODIVERSITY AND FOREST LIVELIHOODS, INDIA In 2006 Bees for Development worked with Keystone Foundation to understand the interdependencies between bees, biodiversity and forest livelihoods in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, in the Western Ghats of India. This rich habitat is home to three species of Asian honey bees and a wide range of stingless bees – all contributing to the ecological fabric of the ecosystem. Honeys from all these species of bees are economically, culturally and socially significant for local people and our research revealed complex, dynamic and changing relationships between people and bees.
The Bee Shop gives us a more public-facing presence and the opportunity for the people of Monmouth to support their local-global bee charity. Being situated more firmly within the Monmouth community has enabled us to take the lead in local initiatives such as Bee Friendly Monmouthshire, and establishing Monmouth Bee Town and the Monmouth Bee Festival.
To add value to forest honey and support forest conservation, Keystone Foundation have in recent years launched a trading arm selling honey and other forest products.
Our Patron Bill Turnbull cuts the ribbon to open our new premises. Bill was our wonderful Patron for over 20 years, and we were so sad when he died in August 2022. Sesi Turnbull has kindly taken over Bill’s role as Patron of our Charity.
MAKING HONEY TRADE WORK FOR EVERYONE In Uganda beekeepers were telling us that they could produce more honey, yet selling that honey was the problem. Meanwhile supermarkets in the capital city, Kampala, were importing honey, saying that there was a shortage of supply! This situation gave rise to our flagship Uganda Honey Trade Project, (2010-2015) where we worked with beekeepers, associations and honey buyers to strengthen links in the honey market chain. We set up honey collection centres, introduced a commission system for centre coordinators and shifted investment away from hive donations towards business and marketing skills. This work successfully demonstrated that the pull effect of the market can put more money in people’s pockets than the push effect of hive donations.
BEES FOR DEVELOPMENT ETHIOPIA To make the most impactful changes to lives and landscapes our interventions must be designed well, considering local realities, contexts, problems and opportunities. Our work must meet people’s real needs. In 2012 we took the strategic decision to focus our work in a few key locations with our very best partners. We started implementing this strategic approach in Ethiopia and together with our longstanding partner Tilahun Gebey, founded Bees for Development Ethiopia. This Ethiopianresident NGO started with just one person and has now grown to a team of twelve. Bees for Development Ethiopia is delivering innovative and inclusive work with youth, womenheaded households and the very poorest people. We have integrated beekeeping with biodiversity conservation, showing that these goals can be achieved side-by-side. We have developed a close working relationship with communities, government, donors and partners, and now have an excellent and growing reputation for achieving effective beekeeping development.
Gebeyaw Abebe, attending to his bees in Derbanta, Ethiopia
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Bees for Development
Impact Report 2022-2023
2014 – 2023 NATURE-BASED BEEKEEPING CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE We are developing the capacity of both Bees for Development Ethiopia and Bees for Development Ghana towards becoming Nature-based Beekeeping Centres of Excellence, serving their local and national beekeeping communities through the delivery of excellent services including training, practical projects, information, advice and – where possible – market access. Bees for Development Ghana was founded in partnership with Dr Kwame Aidoo and is now a dynamic and vibrant go-to organisation for beekeeping expertise. It is delivering high quality beekeeping training at all levels - always fitting within the prevailing social, economic and environmental conditions. Bees for Development Ghana has a growing reputation for excellent work and is already reaching beyond Ghana’s borders to other nations of West Africa. As we go to press, Bees for Development Ghana’s innovative approach utilising Nature-based Beekeeping, has been highlighted as one of 12 success stories being presented at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation, Rome September 2023.
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ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN We have learned that we must provide targeted support for women, because the beekeeping sector is highly skewed against their participation and benefit: less than 1% of beekeeper trainers in sub-Saharan Africa are women.
Honey bees give people opportunity to earn good incomes from selling honey and beeswax
We learned from our work that in proportion to baseline income, women benefitted more than men – yet only 32% of farmers we reached were women and in gross terms they earned less. These results obliged us to invest more attention into breaking down barriers preventing women from earning more from beekeeping and in changing attitudinal norms. We are now training women beekeeper trainers in Ghana, India, and Uganda. In Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, we are setting up village savings groups so that women can earn, save, borrow, and re-invest their earnings. We are elevating women as change agents within the sector.
BIODIVERSITY BENEFITS Beekeeping delivers only positive synergies, yielding income for beekeepers and pollination services for life on land. Beekeepers know that their bees need plants to thrive, and hence are champions of floral diversity and conservation.
INCLUDING THE EXCLUDED In Uganda our work has continued apace, and we have broken down more barriers by reaching people with disabilities. We have enabled TUNADO to employ signlanguage interpreter Hope Agwang as their Disability Inclusion Officer.
While we have always measured the impact of our work by seeking to understand how beekeeping improves people's lives, only more recently have we tackled the harder task of measuring biodiversity benefits. We are now making important strides in this direction, and in 2023 we are recording pollinators in Ethiopia, to see the impact of our pesticide reduction project.
Hearing impaired people are among the most marginalised; unable to gain even the most basic of education, they are often considered ‘useless’ and live in deep poverty. With the right training and support, now provided by Hope (below), they can keep bees and change from being a family dependant, to an economic provider.
In Ghana we are conducting forest inventory, to see the impact of our fire reduction project. All towards helping bees and beekeepers.
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IN 2022...
ETHIOPIA
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Bees for Development Ethiopia is in Bahir Dar, the capital city of Amhara Region. Covid-19 and civil unrest are undoing recent social and economic progress, and 30% of the 20 million people of Amhara are still living in deep poverty. Food insecurity, malnutrition and the low status of girls and women are the outstanding challenges. The number of poor people in rural areas exceeds the capacity of agriculture to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities.
PEOPLE TRAINED IN WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
1,542m2
OF GULLIES STABILISED
Households with small land holdings, limited labour and few livestock suffer extreme destitution, yet they can keep bees. This is why our work is so essential. The honey economy is offering significant potential to help people to earn their way out of poverty.
Bees for Development Ethiopia is taking on the huge challenge of beekeeping development in Amhara and is rightly very proud of its recent achievements.
I have learned how to harvest top quality honey so I can get the best price. I am excited to get good profits from beekeeping and I will do more in the future.
BEEKEEPERS TRAINED
We continued to support beekeepers in four districts to use their honey income as a foundation for greater economic security through Village Savings and Loans Groups – saving, borrowing, re-investing.
50,350
We supported communities in Ysala and Alehuay to reclaim and rewild degraded land, through tree planting and gully stabilisation and – importantly – put in place governance structures at community-level to ensure this progress endures in the long term.
TREES PLANTED
2022 saw the launch of our new Darwin Initiative – supported work: More bees: Supporting agrobiodiversity and livelihoods in Amhara. This project was initiated in direct response to a plea from beekeepers for help in solving the problem of pesticides killing their bees.
Tiringo Endashaw, Debranta
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This work is introducing integrated pest management which is leading to a reduction in pesticide application, more beekeeping, increased abundance of beneficial insects, and more income for smallholders.
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FARMER FIELD SCHOOLS SET-UP, LEARNING ABOUT INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT
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PLOTS ESTABLISHED, TRIALLING ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES
90%
REDUCTION IN USE OF PESTICIDES IN OUR PLOTS, WITHOUT LOSS OF YIELD
I have never observed such a diversity of insects in a plot of land – I will try to convey the message to farmers, beekeepers and other concerned bodies on the importance of maintaining both insect and plant biodiversity.
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GOVERNMENT WORKERS AND EXTENSION AGENTS LEARN ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF POLLINATORS
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Amare Gebeyehu, Enguti
VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LOANS GROUPS SUPPORTED
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Bees for Development
Impact Report 2022-2023
GHANA
In 2022 we increased the number of Buzz Clubs from five to ten, trained 15 teachers in beekeeping and set-up five additional apiaries in the new schools.
During 2022 Ghana experienced huge economic turmoil, with runaway inflation reaching 50%. Increases in prices of food, farming inputs and transport caused the poorest people to fall even deeper into poverty. People’s determination to find an additional source of sustainable income is greater than ever, and the demand for our beekeeping training just increases. In all the communities where Bees for Development Ghana is working, people are learning about beekeeping, selling honey and beeswax and enriching their local environment for bees.
40 school children ‘graduated’ from their Buzz Clubs in November 2022, and new pupils took their places and joined the clubs.
IN 2022... 1
HONEY TRADE CENTRE – BUILDING UNDERWAY
Buzz Clubs inspire and educate school children to appreciate the link between people’s wellbeing and the environment, with a focus on bees, other insects and flowering plants.
© Briana Marie Forgie, Photographers Without Borders
Our work with citrus farmers in Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese was completed in 2022. Beekeeping was new to these farmers, and they had few role models in the local area to follow. We supported ten communities to each plant 100 bee trees, mainly mahogany and fruit trees. We were proud to see the results, as explained by new beekeeper Aseidu Bofo:
It was my first-time seeing honey being harvested from a hive. First time seeing honeycombs, I must say it was an amazing feeling! Suddenly, all my stress went away, leaving me relieved. It was as if some sort of burden has been taken off my shoulders. Then I realised beekeeping is far more than I thought. I have realised it is something that - even at my age, can change my life. I do not need to go in search of jobs which are not even available. I have decided to concentrate on beekeeping. I am going to regenerate my citrus farm to boost the nectar sources in my area.
In Donkorkrom in Kwahu Afram Plains North we started building our new Bees for Development Honey and Beeswax Centre to provide a reliable market for the up-and-coming beekeepers of the district, who are now beginning to harvest significant quantities of honey and beeswax – a direct result of training delivered by us since 2019. Our team in Donkorkrom have developed efficient logistical support through training Honey Collection Centre Coordinators, a bucket delivery system, cashless payments through Mobile Money and a prototype traceability and quality assurance system. This work is giving confidence and hope that beekeeping is a more profitable and sustainable alternative to honey hunting and charcoal making.
TONNES OF HONEY PURCHASED
115 Beekeetping is developing our community. When Bees for Development Ghana first came here, only a few people were keeping bees but now almost everyone in this community is doing it, because it is more rewarding than other activities. You have really helped us to improve our livelihoods. Years ago, we did not know that cutting down trees and burning charcoal had any negative impact on the environment. But now we know. Many people have now shifted from burning charcoal to beekeeping. Razak Amadu, Bondaso
BUCKETS DISTRIBUTED
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HONEY COLLECTION CENTRE COORDINATORS ENROLLED
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HARVESTING TEAMS TRAINED
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WOMEN IN MUSLIM COMMUNITIES NEAR DONKORKROM START BEEKEEPING
350
BEEKEEPERS REGISTERED ON OUR MOBILE HONEY SYSTEM
100
© Briana Marie Forgie, Photographers Without Borders
© Briana Marie Forgie, Photographers Without Borders
Nana Aseidu Bofo, New Ebu
Learning about beekeeping has helped me a lot. I used to be afraid of bees but through the training I received from the club I am not afraid anymore. I work with bees easily now.
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© Briana Marie Forgie, Photographers Without Borders
BEEKEEPERS MADE 272 HIVES
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BEEKEEPERS IN ABURA-ASEBUKWAMANKESE SOLD HONEY FOR THE FIRST TIME
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BUZZ CLUBS INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF ‘BEE CHAMPIONS’
A pupil from Nyamebekyere Buzz Club 16
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Impact Report 2022-2023
UGANDA
IN 2022...
We are proud to work with The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (TUNADO): together we are striving to build a strong and inclusive beekeeping sector in Uganda.
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2022 was a tough year – hard on the heels of the shock of Covid-19, an early dry season severely hit the subsistence farmers who make up 40% of the population. With little adaptive capacity to make up income shortfalls, beekeeping has become an incredibly important lifeline for the people we support. We are particularly invested in helping marginalised groups and our projects support people living with disability, rural women and the impoverished Batwa people. In the Northern and Eastern Regions of Uganda we are reaching out to people with vision and hearing impairments. With adapted training approaches we are demonstrating that people with disabilities are able to keep bees and earn their own income. This makes a huge difference to their social status within their communities. As beekeepers they gain respect and are regarded as an economic contributor, as opposed to ‘just another mouth to feed’.
PROFESSIONAL APIARY MISTRESSES SERVING THEIR COMMUNITY
85 I didn’t know that women can take part in beekeeping… the introduction of the hive stands makes it possible for me to work in my apiary with ease. Felista Mokomiki — a widow in Adjumani
Following training on bee hive weaving, one participant commented:
We thank TUNADO for not promising us hives but using available natural resources for beekeeping. We will use this knowledge for generations by also training our children. Other organisations have been taking us to workshops in Adjumani where we are promised bee hives that are never given.
In Adjumani District in the far north, our work to redress the gender imbalance in beekeeping and to economically empower women continues to show signs of breakthrough. Our team has been working with families to analyse their roles, and to work through ways in which women can release time to engage in beekeeping and earn their own income. We are delighted to record notable success - changing male attitudes is enabling them to see women as beekeepers for the first time.
In the south-west of Uganda we are supporting the muchdiscriminated against Batwa people. They were forcibly moved from their ancestral forests decades ago, yet given no compensation, land or support. Many fell into destitution. Our beekeeping project is delivering joint activities with Batwa and the wider community, so fostering inclusion and integration, as well as providing this vulnerable group with an essential livelihood opportunity. In 2022 this work was funded directly by the Danish Beekeepers Association.
WOMEN EARNED £1,450 IN ONE SEASON
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DEAF PARTICIPANT BECOMES A BEEKEEPING TRAINER
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PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES HAVE MADE AND SITED 302 BEE HIVES.
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BATWA PEOPLE AND 40 NON BATWA ACTIVELY TRAINING AND CO-OPERATING TOGETHER.
75Kg
IS THE AVERAGE HARVEST PER BATWA BEEKEEPER
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Bees for Development
Impact Report 2022-2023
1 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Amazingly, bees and beekeeping can help to address every one of the 17 goals:
Our work shows that beekeeping can generate a cash transfer from nature in a sustainable way, helping people to earn their way out of poverty.
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INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
REDUCED INEQUALITIES
Our work in Ghana is creating a linked-up beekeeping and honey trade economy, and we are innovating with novel materials for hive-making and an electronic traceability system for honey.
Our beekeeping work with vulnerable groups, such as vision impaired people in Uganda, is helping to reduce inequality by giving them income-generating potential and increasing status and respect.
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ZERO HUNGER
GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
People we have helped in Ethiopia, Ghana and Nepal rely on bee pollination to produce fruits, oilseeds and vegetables: helping to achieve food security. Honey provides a nutritious and wholesome food.
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NO POVERTY
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We enabled a hospital In Sierra Leone to begin beekeeping - to produce good quality honey for their wound clinic.
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6 CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
People love to see wildlife in towns and cities, and bees and flowers make life better for everyone. This is behind our efforts in UK to raise awareness of the value of bees, with our Bee Garden Party events, Monmouth Bee Festival and Bee Friendly Monmouthshire.
We are working to elevate consumers’ understanding about the difference between intensive, unsustainable practices and sustainable nature-based beekeeping. Working within nature’s limits goes to the heart of our ethos.
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QUALITY EDUCATION
GENDER EQUALITY We are training women as beekeeper trainers in Ghana, India and Uganda, so they can get jobs, serve as role models, and break down barriers – helping more women and girls to keep bees.
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AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS
Oil seed crops grown by farmers for energy in India need good pollination by bees and offer bonus crops of honey too.
Our work on honey and beeswax market chains in Uganda and Ethiopia is helping to create resilient livelihoods across many sectors of society beyond beekeepers: makers of tools, clothing, and secondary products, and packers and traders.
PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
LIFE BELOW WATER
LIFE ON LAND
Restoration of coastal margins is essential – mangroves and other habitat types are useful for bees and bring welcome income opportunities. Following the Tsunami we helped to restore mangroves in Banda Aceh, Indonesia during 2005-2007.
Flowering Ethiopian forests are full of bees and full of beekeepers too. In south west Ethiopia we are working to ensure that beekeeping gives people financial incentive to protect their forests.
We have witnessed wonderful examples of beekeeping helping to break down ethnic tensions, in Chechnya, and currently in Uganda with Batwa people.
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CLIMATE ACTION Bees and trees are part of the solution for climate change. Beekeepers in Ethiopia are planting trees and in Zimbabwe they are preventing forest fires.
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In Ghana beekeepers we trained are now able to pay for their children’s school costs, ensuring that young people in rural areas can access education.
Beekeepers are at the forefront of our work to reforest water catchment areas in Amhara, Ethiopia: restoring both bee habitats and permanent natural water supplies.
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We are very proud of our role in creating The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation – now representing over 1 million beekeepers in Uganda.
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ZIMBABWE
INDIA
In Zimbabwe women form 70% of the agricultural workforce yet less than 5% own land. This makes it incredibly hard for women to support themselves and feed their families. Compared to men they have less agency, fewer opportunities and are poorer. It is against this background that our partner organisation Working for Bees delivered a comprehensive training programme for 100 women in Makoni District and helped them to get started with beekeeping.
Helping people to make a sustainable living through caring for bees, remains a central element of Keystone Foundation’s work. Together we work to achieve livelihood security for indigenous communities, through beekeeping, capacity building, and conservation of biodiversity – always with a focus on the socio-ecological resilience of all life within the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.
As honey is a high value product in much demand in Makoni, this initiative was recognised as a real opportunity by the women who are also being helped to set-up Village Savings and Loans Groups – so they can save, borrow and reinvest their income.
In 2022 we trained trainers, upskilling 35 local people and beginner beekeepers so that they could become independent and self-confident, able to train others within their own communities. The urgent need for the more skilled beekeeper trainers has been raised by government agencies, local NGOs, and community associations. To support this work Keystone Foundation upgraded the training apiary at their premises in Kotagiri.
In 2022 the focus of our work was on making bee hives and establishment of apiaries. Taking care of bees involves taking care of the environment and beekeeping training was accompanied by tree-planting and fire management.
TALKING ABOUT BEES My name is Manimekalai. I live in Ambedkar Nagar, Nilgiris district and I am surrounded by nature. During the training I was amazed to learn about the role of the queen bee and the systematic worker bees. I learned how bees communicate, why bees collect pollen and about the bees’ biology. I am now sharing what I learned with school children. We take nature education classes into villages, to create awareness about wildlife and it was through these that I met one student who asked lots of questions about beekeeping and I answered them all. The very next day he was seen working, nailing boards together to make his own bee hive. I was happy to see how quickly he had picked up an interest in beekeeping and I feel confident that he will work hard, together with his classmates, to protect bees.
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RESOURCE CENTRE Producing training resources and distributing information to beekeepers worldwide is an essential part of our work. This way we can reach more people, in nations where we have no direct presence and achieve greater impact at lower cost. Our Resource Centre offers a portfolio of materials, and different ways of accessing them. We aim to give beekeepers living in remote rural areas, information that is highly relevant to their needs.
RESOURCES.BEESFORDEVELOPMENT.ORG
Our resource centre empowers beekeepers and their trainers
FREE ACCESS TO ALL RESOURCES BEE INFORMATION
BEES FOR DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL In 2022 we resumed printing and posting Bees for Development Journal to our Journal Hubs, making it possible for readers around the world to access relevant and up-to-date beekeeping information.
'HOW TO' GUIDES
Also in 2022 and 2023 we joined forces with Natural Bee Husbandry magazine to create combined editions, in an endeavour to reach and connect the wider community of people interested in sustainable nature-based beekeeping.
'HOW TO' VIDEOS
All editions of Bees for Development Journal are freely available at beesfordevelopment.org
FAAD Malawi would like to thank Bees for Development for your support. We received the training materials we requested within this week, so we want to thank you all and please continue to do this so that beekeeping activity can be maintained everywhere in Africa as an income generating activity. Regards, John Harawa, Malawi
ONLINE
Thanks for the video from Uganda. It is so informative and educating to know about baiting a bee hive for easy occupation.
REFERENCE COLLECTION RESOURCE BOXES
Regards, Lenson Simumba, NKhata Bay Honey Producers Cooperative, Malawi
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TRAINING MATERIALS beesfordevelopment.org
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NATURE-BASED BEEKEEPING Nature-based Beekeeping is any practical, feasible and sustainable way of keeping bees that is low-cost and low-impact. It draws upon natural resources to yield harvests that are safe for bees and worthwhile for people. Nature-based Beekeeping generates income: it turns nature’s resources (the nectar and pollen in flowers) into cash in beekeepers’ pockets – with help from millions of little insects! Bees for Development considers beekeeping from the viewpoint of people living in the poorest nations of the world. For these people intensive beekeeping is unaffordable because of its high capital input costs. Yet where natural resources are abundant, beekeeping can create income for many people and still be good for bees and their habitat. To achieve this, we advocate beekeeping systems that draw on nature, because any approach to keeping bees sustainably that uses nature, rather than cash, to get started and expand – is an excellent approach for people with limited funds. Low barriers to entry make Nature-based Beekeeping accessible, however it is not just ‘beekeeping for poor people’ – we believe that this approach is best for bees, and best for everyone. The term Nature-based Beekeeping describes best practise beekeeping currently underway around the world.
PRINCIPLES OF NATURE-BASED BEEKEEPING
Making bee hives in Aluehay. These novice beekeepers now have the skills to scale up their beekeeping without financial constraint.
Respecting indigenous knowledge, skills and experience
Nature-based Beekeepers allow bees to live more or less as they do in nature. This brings many health and economic advantages. Health advantages arise because beekeepers do not interrupt the bees’ social immune responses, for example, a colony that is not subject to manipulations is better able to maintain a stable nest environment of optimum temperature, structure and humidity, and the pathogen-resisting propolis envelope remains intact.
Ensuring economic viability Being locally specific, not a top-down global model Providing favourable conditions for honey bees to stay healthy without medications, manipulations and supplementary feed Achieving social justice – having low entry barriers, allowing people to benefit, regardless of financial capital and accessible for everyone who wants to care for bees Strongly connected to the natural habitat near to the beekeeper, and creating strong incentive for habitat conservation Elevating natural processes and natural assets, ahead of manipulated processes and external inputs Addressing a wider agenda of achieving beekeeping that is sustainable for the planet.
Many tropical and sub-tropical nations have an abundance of the natural resources essential for apiculture – these are bees and flowering plants. To derive a sustainable harvest from these resources, beekeepers need bee hives, and these need to be made by the beekeeper or purchased locally at low-cost. With accessible, low-cost hives, the barrier to becoming a beekeeper is removed and anyone can participate. All the evidence from honey producing regions in developing nations shows that where hives are cheapest, total honey harvests are highest – because the cost barrier to participation is low and this allows thousands of people to harvest honey and beeswax.
NATURE-BASED BEEKEEPING DEPENDS ON BEES’ NATURAL BIOLOGY AND GENETICS
NATURE-BASED BEEKEEPING DEPENDS ON LOCAL KNOWLEDGE The Nature-based Beekeeping approach places skills and knowledge at the heart of successful beekeeping – not expensive bee hives. It depends upon good understanding of the local situation. New beekeepers need skills in making bee hives using natural materials and knowledge about the local beekeeping season, when bees swarm, when flowers produce nectar and pollen, and the best time for harvest. Nature-based Beekeeping is not a single methodology – practices vary according to local situations and resources. Instead, it relies on indigenous knowledge. This can be quite disempowering for some elite groups – such as educated development workers – as it means that the expertise is out of their hands. Yet it is empowering for rural people who are the keepers of locally specific, indigenous beekeeping skills.
Economic advantages arise because large healthy honey bee populations keep themselves healthy, and do not need expensive medications. Nature’s ‘survival of the fittest’ mechanism for good bee health and genetic fitness is the ultimate affordable solution for any beekeeper.
This way of beekeeping is so beneficial as it is possible for everyone in my community. This approach does not discriminate whether you are young or old, as long as you are creative enough you can make it work for you. Joshua Ngorok, Uganda
Nature-based Beekeeping is what many people have been doing all along. It is good beekeeping that works and uses nature as the main ingredient.
These bee hives near Donkorkrom in Ghana are made from hollow palm tree trunks. They are termite and rot resistant, and as well as providing a suitable home for bees, are extremely durable
Our concept of Nature-based Beekeeping is fully endorsed by our Patron, Professor Tom Seeley of Cornell University. Professor Seeley is widely acknowledged as the world’s foremost research scientist and author concerning the behaviour and social life of honey bees.
Locally-made bee hives in Didu, Ethiopia 26
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EVENTS & FUNDRAISING 2022 – 2023
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATIONAL PROGRESS
We participate in events to raise our profile, educate, inspire and inform. For example in 2022 we exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and hosted The Monmouth Bee Festival; in 2023 we participated in the RHS Malvern Spring Festival and organised our Bee Garden Party Fundraiser.
During 2022 Bees for Development’s status was updated from a Charitable Trust (Charity No. 1078803) to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO, Charity No. 1198116). The Trust remains in existence; however assets and activities of the Trust, are now transferred to the new CIO Charity by Deed of Transfer dated November 2022. All further funds received by the Trust will continue to be transferred to the new CIO Charity, which is now responsible for all activities of the charity.
COURSES
Assets and activities of BfD Bee Shop Ltd were also transferred to the new CIO by Deed of Transfer dated November 2022, except for The Bee Shop which remains within the ownership of BfD Bee Shop Ltd.
We offer a range of unique, award winning courses here in the UK and have been running our flagship Sustainable Beekeeping Course at Ragman’s Lane Farm in Gloucestershire since 2008.
FINANCIAL REPORTS FOR 2021–22 AND 2022–23
HM The Queen and Martha Kearney at our Bee Garden Party Fundraiser in June 2023
2021-20221
2022-20232
INCOME
UK£
UK£
Grants
107,088
127,977
Gifts from Trusts and Foundations, Associations, Individuals and Corporate donors.
594,896
802,770
1,945
74,820
703,929
1,005,567
Work in Ethiopia
126,851
169,116
Work in Ghana
94,672
71,047
Work in Uganda
77,047
12,5183
Work in other nations
33,800
9,414
Knowledge, Information and Education Service, BfD Journal, Resource Boxes and training materials
15,115
14,650
Organisation and project management, monitoring and evaluation, overhead costs
300,312
214,347
Communications and fundraising
21,698
61,108
669,495
552,201
Other income TOTAL
EXPENDITURE
Sustainable Beekeeping Course underway at Ragman’s Farm
Kate Humble at Monmouth Bee Festival 2022
TOTAL
1 May 2021-April 2022 Taken from accounts of The Troy Trust, working title Bees for Development Trust (Charity 1078803). 2 May 2022-April 2023 These figures are combined from the accounts of The Troy Trust, working title Bees for Development Trust (Charity 1078803) and the new Bees for Development CIO (Charity 1198116). 3 Our work during this year with Batwa people in Uganda was funded directly by the Danish Beekeepers Association (Danmarks Biavlerforening) to our partner organisation The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation. Detailed accounts for both organisations are available at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022
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UN Food & Agriculture Organization, Rome, September 2023
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The Troy Trust, working title Bees for Development Trust (Charity 1078803) is now dormant, with all activities of the charity undertaken by Bees for Development CIO Charity No. 1198116.
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Impact Report 2022-2023
ABOUT US
OUR PARTNER ORGANISATIONS Bees for Development Ethiopia
Bees for Development President Her Majesty The Queen as former Duchess of Cornwall Patrons Monty Don Baroness Anita Gale Kate Humble Martha Kearney Professor Tom Seeley Sting
Bees for Development UK Nicola Bradbear Founder/CEO Janet Lowore Director of Programmes Jenny Handley Head of Communications & Fundraising
Professor Tom Seeley Board Director & Patron
Andrew Chalinder Project Manager
Suzie Shaw, Secretary
Laura Grey Information Officer
Mike Krefta Gladstone Solomon Robert Spencer Ambassadors Nicola Arkell
Rachael Griffiths Charity Administrator Helen Jackson Coordinator Chris Keywood Project Manager Cindy Smith Accounts
Tilahun Gebey Director
Bees for Development Ghana Kwame Aidoo Director
Getsh Kassa Project Coordinator
Martha Adjorlolo Programme Manager
Getu Hailu Programme Manager
Isaac Mbroh Apiculture Development Coordinator
Addisu Bihongen Beekeeping Project Coordinator
Jane Barnes Digital Comms Coordinator
Trustees Paul Smith, Chairman
Ole Hertz
Megan Denver Founder/Director Jorik Phillips Board Director
Sesi Turnbull
Sue Brown
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Monica Barlow Policy Advisor
Will Van Blyderveen Project Manager
Cathy Cooper, Treasurer
Bees for Development North America Our USA registered 501 (c) 3 fund-raising arm works to spread awareness about Bees for Development and to raise funds.
Course Tutors Mark Loveday Chris Park Ingo Scholler
Wendimagegnehu Sahilemariam Honey Marketing and Livelihood Officer Edlegnaw Asfaw Yigzaw Beekeeper Fieldworker Efrem Derebie Beekeeper Trainer Anteneh Ayalew Finance Lead
The Bee Shop (BfD Bee Shop Ltd) Donna Regan Shop Manager Moira Cox Shop Assistant
Melaku Tadesse Ambaw IPM Field worker Welelaw Ayehu IPM Field worker Habtam Derebie Cashier
Gideon Zege Honey and Beeswax Centre Manager Mike Ahorlu Operations Manager Esi Aidoo Bookkeeper Working for Bees, Zimbabwe Robert Mutisi Director Happle Mutisi Accounts Morat Mutisi Operations
The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation* Dickson Biryomumaisho Director Phionah Birungi Programme Manager Hope Agwang Inclusion Officer Ezekiel Okuga Beekeeper Trainer Denis Okello Training and Business Advisor Sauda Babirye Finance Manager Keystone Foundation*, India Pratim Roy Director Shiny Rehel Biodiversity Lead Justin Raj Beekeeper * These are the team members most involved with Bees for Development and not a list of the whole organisation.
We have many wonderful volunteers whose support we greatly appreciate.
Martin Fidler Jones Alex Hirtzel Peter Lead Robbie Lyle Hilary, Lady Russell Angela Sherriff Andrew Tuggey
Some of Bees for Development team and colleagues pictured in Monmouth in June 2023 – left to right: Isaac Mbroh, Andrew Chalinder, Pratim Roy, Robert Mutisi, Janet Lowore, David Mukomana, Shiny Rehel, Gladstone Solomon, Cleo Cervancia, Nicola Bradbear, Salvacion Locsin, Anna Maria dela Encarnacion Locsin, Megan Denver, Jessica Baroga-Barbecho. 30
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WORKING WORLDWIDE FOR 30 YEARS
Image References Front cover: Ernestina Boateng proudly showing a perfect comb of ripe honey harvested from a top-bar hive in Donkorkrom, Ghana.
Page 18 bottom right: The Batwa woman is working with the landowner farmer (also shown); he has provided some of his land for her bees. Near Kisoro, Uganda.
Page 2: Our Bees for Development logo is inspired by this image of a tree in miombo woodland in Tanzania with a hive hanging from the branch. This perfectly demonstrates the intimate relationship between Nature based Beekeeping, forests and livelihoods.
Page 19 top: Rebecca Driwaru has been trained as a Lead Beekeeper Trainer by The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation. Working in Adjumani, Uganda she is targeting women and helping them get started with beekeeping.
Page 4 top: Bees for Development training posters in use in Bandah Aceh, 2007
Page 19 bottom: Kasule, a deaf beekeeper training people how to weave a hive in Uganda.
Page 4 bottom: Beekeepers preparing for the tree-planting season in Ibnat, Amhara, Ethiopia. Page 5 top: Women farmers learning how to make their own top-bar hives in Ligaba, Amhara, Ethiopia. Page 5 bottom: Honey traders in Eritrea, 2015 Page 8 top: Our '10 Good Reasons' poster. Page 8 bottom: Honey for sale in Arusha, Tanzania. Page 9 bottom left: Beekeeping research underway in Arusha, Tanzania. Page 10 top: Forest in Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India.
UK
Ukraine
Croatia Bosnia & Herzegovina
New York State
Albania
Uzbekistan
Chechnya Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan
North Macedonia
Syria Lebanon
Tunisia
Afghanistan
Iran
Iraq
Pakistan
Jordan Algeria Mexico
Belize Guatemala Honduras El Salvador Nicaragua
Nepal
Libya Egypt
The Bahamas
United Arab Emirates Oman
Dominican Republic
Cuba
Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan
Turkey
Morocco
Mongolia
Kazakhstan
Saint Kitts and Nevis Antigua & Barbuda
Jamaica Haiti
Saint Lucia St. Vincent & Grenadines Grenada
Dominica Barbados Trinidad & Tobago
Costa Rica
Mauritania Cabo Verde
Senegal Gambia Guinea-Bissau
Guinea
Sierra Leone
Venezuela Guyana
Liberia
Suriname
Colombia
Mali
Niger
Burkina Faso Benin Togo Nigeria Ghana Côte d’Ivoire
Myanmar
Yemen
Eritrea
Cameroon
South Sudan
Central African Republic
Cambodia
Ethiopia
Congo
Philippines
Peru
Indonesia
Comoros Malawi
Zimbabwe
Madagascar
Mauritius
Fiji
Botswana
Paraguay Eswatini
Chile
Uruguay Argentina
Bees for Development was or is currently engaged in long-term work with beekeeping communities
South Africa
Solomon Islands
Samoa
Bolivia Namibia
Page 14 bottom: Learning about pollinators in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Mozambique
Page 15 top: Members of the farming community in Ibnat, Ethiopia, planting trees to restore degraded land. Page 15 bottom: Getsh Kassa, one of our excellent Bees for Development Ethiopia team, enjoying time with children in Wonjeta. Page 16 top*: A pupil from Nyambekyere Beekeeping Club, Ghana.
Lesotho
Page 16 bottom*: Hawa Ibrahim, an exceptional woman beekeeper in Kojorbator, Ghana; she won Best Beekeeper in the Kwahu Afram Plains District in 2021. Page 17 top*: Mamudu Adamu in his forest apiary in Bondaso near Donkokrom, Ghana.
Bees for Development advised on bee-related intervention, or raised funds for beekeeping development
SDG 10: Vision impaired beekeeper, visiting his apiary in Gulu. SDG 13: Tree seedlings being carried to forest restoration site in Ibnat, Amhara, Ethiopia. SDG 15: Apis mellifera collecting pollen.
Page 22 top: Derreck Saidi planting a tree seedling, for his bees. Mufusire, near Headlands, Manicaland province, Zimbabwe.
Page 14 top: Tiringo Endashaw with her beautiful honey harvest.
Papua New Guinea
SDG 8: A honey shop in Mizan, Ethiopia.
Page 12*: Beekeepers bringing their honey out of the forest near Donkorkrom, Ghana. It is hard work carrying honey – it is very heavy. However when people have a guaranteed market to sell to, they never seem to mind!
Kiribati
Tanzania
Zambia
Marshall Islands
Malaysia
Kenya
Democratic Republic Rwanda of the Congo Burundi
Brazil
Angola
Micronesia
Brunei
Maldives
SDG 5: Rejoice, Florence and Clara – training to be professional beekeepers and role models for other women in Ghana.
SDG 17: Participants at the Bees for Development Africa Honey Trade Workshop in Kampala, Uganda, 2006
Page 13 bottom: Hope Agwang is the Disability Inclusion Officer with The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation; here she is signing beekeeping instruction for deaf trainees.
Vietnam
Sri Lanka Somalia
Uganda
Laos Thailand
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea Sao Tome & Principe Gabon
Ecuador
Sudan
Chad
Bangladesh
India
SDG 2: Market stall full of pollinated fruits in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Page 10 bottom: Akiba Natural Honey, a successful Ugandan honey brand showcased at Honey Week in Kampala.
Page 13 top: Lucy Benewa, a successful beekeeper in Techiman, Ghana; she is an active role model showing what is possible for other women.
Bhutan
SDG 1: Mulu Abeje and his family in Wonjeta, Amhara, Ethiopia. Beekeeping is helping him and his family on a pathway out of poverty.
Page 22 bottom left: Clarieta Mahachi, setting up a bee hive at Gwebi college of Agriculture in Mashonaland west Province of Zimbabwe. Page 22 bottom right: Juliana Rukato, Leader of the Yorkshire Women’s Group, near Headlands, Zimbabwe, feeling full of joy waves a hand after completing training on bee hive making. Page 23 top: Trainee Ravi from Aracode handling bees during the training session, near Nilgiris, India. Page 23 bottom: Manimegalai during a training session in Kotagiri, India. Pages 24-25: Selection of images showing Bees for Development Training Resources being received and used in Kenya (24 top) Ethiopia (24 left), Cameroon (24 bottom), Zimbabwe (25 top) and Uganda (25 bottom). Page 27: Professor Tom Seeley. Page 30: Staff and colleagues of Bees for Development visiting Wainwright’s Honey factory in Wales. Back cover: Nature-based Beekeeping with bee hives placed in trees to catch swarms, Ethiopia. All images © Bees for Development apart from *© Briana Marie Forgie, Photographers Without Borders
Page 17 bottom*: Women cashew farmers near Techiman in Ghana, showing their excellent yields: a result of keeping bees in their orchard to ensure optimal pollination.
Beekeepers receiving Bees for Development Journal and Resources
Page 18 top: Felista Mokomiki, a widow in Adjumani, Uganda, starting on her journey to become a beekeeper. Page 18 bottom left: Life is tough for Enyani Setim: his vision is impaired, his wife is paralysed on one side of her body and their daughter is deaf. Having learned beekeeping, he has set up an apiary at his house in Adjumani, Uganda and making a livelihood from honey selling.
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THANK YOU
PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN
Bees for Development sincerely thank all the people and organisations who support our work.
Please donate to Bees for Development and help us to Make Life Better With Bees.
Named here are the organisations, companies, families, beekeeping and gardening associations, charitable trusts and foundations donating towards our work, during 2022 and 2023.
MAJOR DONORS
£5 A MONTH Helps us teach beekeeping skills to young people in schools.
1% for the Planet
Fortnum & Mason
Souter Trust
2BScientific
Girdlers Co Charitable Trust
St. Marks Overseas Aid Trust
ADM Cares
Healing Herbs
Straight Forward Design Ltd
Alex Monroe
Hiscox Foundation
The Bee Space
B J Sherriff
Hub Cymru Africa
The Lapwing Trust
Bees for Development North America
Hudson Valley Bee Supplies
The Last Bunch
Incubeta
The Lizandy Charitable Trust
John Paul Mitchell Systems
The London Honey Company
Jumblebee Ltd
The Oakdale Trust
Koster Keunen
The Waterloo Foundation
£10 A MONTH Helps us to plant trees to restore forests and provide nectar for bees.
£20 A MONTH Helps us to train one person for a whole year, so that beekeeping can be a sustainable livelihood.
£50 A MONTH
Big Give
Provides tools and resource boxes for training in bee hive making, beekeeping and trading.
British Wax Refining Co Ltd Buzz Club Stroud
GIFTS IN WILLS
Conwy Beekeepers Honey Fair Lighthouse Giving
Tregothnan
A gift can be left by writing a Will or amending an existing one. Anyone can leave a gift to charity in their Will. Please visit our website to follow the easy steps.
Crafty Ladies Hereford Mandarin Stone
Tudor Trust
Danish Beekeepers Association (Danmarks Biavlerforening)
Marlborough College
Unbeelievable Health
Darwin Initiative
Mirianog Trust
VITA (Europe) Ltd
Didymus Charity
Monmouthshire Building Society
Waitrose (Monmouth)
E.H. Thorne (Beehives) Ltd.
Neal’s Yard Remedies
WCVA
Ethiopiaid
Northern Bee Books
Welsh Government
Euromonitor International
Rowse Honey Ltd.
Wikiloc
Flow Hive
Smiths Group Plc
Yasaeng Beekeeping Supplies
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Just think – gifting a small percentage of your estate could change people’s lives long into the future – with a little help from honey bees! www.beesfordevelopment.org/ bee-involved/leave-a-legacy
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Bees for Development, 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ | Charity registration number: 1198116 01600 714 848 | info@beesfordevelopment.org | beesfordevelopment.org @beesfordevelopment
@BeesForDev
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