Our Journey
In the dry heart of Tanzania’s Dodoma region, the trees had disappeared and the soil had grown hard. Each year the land gave less, and life became harder for the families who depended on it. LEAD Foundation began in 2011 with a clear purpose: to restore damaged land and build stronger communities, starting with the slopes of Kiboriani Mountain, a water tower that feeds the towns of Mpwapwa and Kongwa.
A year later came the idea that would shape everything. At a training in Moshi, our founders learned a simple but powerful truth: the forest was not lost. It was still alive in the old stumps and roots hidden beneath the fields, ready to grow again if farmers cared for it. They gave this method a name everyone could remember: Kisiki Hai, the living stump.
We started with one damaged mountain and a few villages. Today, working hand in hand with farmers, the communities we support have grown back more than 34 million trees and brought over 300,000 hectares of land back to life, reaching 695+ villages and 260,000+ households. From our offices in Dodoma, Mpwapwa, Singida and Arusha, LEAD brings together three things that belong together: caring for the land, building stronger communities, and leading with humility and service. This is work that communities continue on their own, long after a project ends.
LEAD Through the Years
From one mountain to a movement across Tanzania’s drylands, here is how the work has grown.
Retired Bishop Dr. Simon and Mrs. Gladys Chiwanga found LEAD Foundation as a Trust, with a purpose of restoring degraded land and transforming the communities that depend on it. Its first project sets out to restore the degraded Kiboriani Mountain, an Eastern Arc outlier and the source of water for the towns of Mpwapwa and Kongwa, named Kiboriani Mountain, the Fountain of Life.
Bishop Chiwanga and Njamasi Chiwanga attend the first FMNR training in Moshi, led by the method’s pioneer Tony Rinaudo. They return convinced this is the way to restore Tanzania’s drylands, and give it a name farmers will remember: Kisiki Hai, the living stump
LEAD’s first major project launches with support from World Vision, working across six villages around Kiboriani in Mpwapwa and Kongwa. By 2014, LEAD chooses to carry the work forward on members’ own contributions, keeping the mission locally owned.
Growing demand for the work leads to formal registration as a Tanzanian NGO.
LEAD convenes a national FMNR workshop for Members of Parliament and technical staff, putting farmer-led restoration on the policy agenda.
A partnership with Justdiggit scales the work to 66 villages in Kongwa, then to 324 villages across Dodoma through the Regreening Dodoma Program.
LEAD’s tenth year is its biggest yet. At COP26, LEAD is named one of Africa’s top 100 locally led restoration organisations and wins an AFR100 grant, with One Tree Planted and WRI, for the Restoration of Semi-Arid Lands of Tanzania (RESET) project. The same year, the Regreening Singida Program begins with Justdiggit, the Regreening Arusha Program launches with the Erbacher Foundation, the Dodoma footprint grows with Ecosia, and LEAD hosts the first Tanzania Arid and Semi-Arid Land Conference (TASAL-1).
The work expands into Manyara region with support from TRIAS, and LEAD launches Kisiki Hai for Schools (KH4S) with support from Awaken Trees, bringing FMNR into the classroom through an extracurriculum and Kisiki Hai clubs across 39 schools.
LEAD is accredited by the UNCCD and receives the Communications Award at the Society for Ecological Restoration’s 10th World Conference. The same year, LEAD launches its first research project, the Wellcome Trust-funded KISHADE study with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, putting science behind the work in the field.
LEAD is accredited by the UNFCCC, exhibits its work in the Blue Zone at UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh with support from the host country, and begins implementation in Iringa region with the Nawiri Foundation.
Accreditation by UNEP joins LEAD’s existing recognition by the UNCCD and the UNFCCC, the UN’s bodies for environment, land, and climate, anchoring LEAD as a globally trusted, locally led restoration organization.
The communities LEAD works with have regenerated more than 34 million trees and restored over 300,000 hectares of degraded land through a range of nature-based solutions, reaching 695+ villages and 260,000+ households, carried by 3,000+ champion farmers and pastoralists across Tanzania’s drylands.
— A WORD FROM OUR FOUNDER
“I have watched these lands change in my lifetime, from thick forest to bare ground. But I have also seen many of them come back. The journey begins by changing mindsets. When a community decides to take charge of its own destiny, embracing stronger leadership and self-reliance to restore its land and improve its livelihood, the change is real and it lasts. That is the work of LEAD Foundation, and I very warmly invite you to be part of it.”
Retired Bishop Dr. Simon Chiwanga, Founder
Featured on National Geographic’s The Grand African Green Up
Bishop Chiwanga started LEAD Foundation with a belief he still holds today: that healthy land and strong communities grow together. You cannot have one without the other.
What People Say About Us
The real story of our work is told by the people who live it. Here is what farmers, partners and community leaders say about bringing their land back to life with LEAD.
I am proud to stand with LEAD Foundation in creating a sustainable future for our communities. Their dedication to restoring and protecting our ecosystems is truly inspiring.
When LEAD Foundation arrived in our village, I felt like i had been brought a honeycomb. I realize we can restore God's depleted earth.
I can't express how happy it makes me to read LEAD Foundation reports. I love the personal stories of how people's lives have been transformed from hopelessness to hope, from poverty to dignity. Thank you for your wonderful work impacting so many thousands of people in Tanzania.
We see great benefits from Kisiki Hai. It has redeemed us. Before we started using Kisiki Hai, we had a hard time getting firewood. We walked all the way to mountains over there to get firewood (pointing to the mountains a few kilometers away). Today, we can harvest everything we need from trees directly on our farm. For example, firewood, fruits, fertilizer, medicine, and wood for processing.
Volunteering with LEAD Foundation for a year gave me a unique insight into the power of grassroots action. It’s inspiring to see LEAD continue making a real difference by restoring ecosystems, supporting local communities, and turning climate action into meaningful and long-lasting results on the ground.
Our Trusted Partners
We cannot do this work alone. We are proud to stand with the funders, researchers and global partners who believe, as we do, in change that is led by local people and rooted in nature.
Together, we can bring back nature
Our flagship method, Kisiki Hai, has grown so well-known across Tanzania that in many villages people know us by that name before they know the name LEAD Foundation. We are very proud with that, It means the method has outgrown us and become the community’s own!
Kisongo, Dodoma Rd
Ilolo, Gulwe Rd
House no 3, Utemini.
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