cross Tanzania’s coastal Pwani Region, forests and livelihoods are being restored side-by-side through an ambitious government of Tanzania and the European Union-funded initiative led by TaTEDO–Sustainable Energy Services Organization (TaTEDO-SESO) in partnership with respective District Councils.

Under the Integrated Sustainable Charcoal Value Chain Promotion Project, communities in Bagamoyo, Kisarawe, Mkuranga, Kibiti and Rufiji districts are adopting integrated measures to address unsustainable charcoal value chains by enhancing forest management, sustainable land uses, improved governance systems,  sustainable harvesting and charcoal production techniques, alternative income sources and gender-inclusive business models showing how charcoal production can shift from environmental degradation to climate-smart rural development.

The three-year project, implemented from October 2023, is already delivering impressive results in forest conservation, policy reform, and economic empowerment. The project focus to improve capacities and commitments by local communities to improve productivity along the charcoal value chain, sustainably manage forests, and improve their socio-economic well-being.

Turning Policy into Practice

Knowing that conflicting, lack, or shortcomings in policy and legal framework is one of the areas hindering effective management of forest resources, an analysis of national policies and legal framework governing the forest and charcoal subsector was conducted. The study highlighted how Tanzania’s National Charcoal Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2031 and National Clean Cooking Strategy 2024-2034 create a comprehensive pathway to achieving 80% clean cooking adoption target.

Building on analysis, TaTEDO-SESO produced three national policy briefs and distributed over 500 copies to ministries, development partners, and regulators, while high-level advocacy meetings with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism triggered commitments for stronger inter-ministerial collaboration on forest-based energy.

At the community level, legal awareness was dramatically expanded through:

  • 4,000 simplified Swahili booklets and Cartoon-based brochures for rural audiences on policies and laws governing forest management and charcoal business in Tanzania.
  • National and district workshops involving 89 officials and civil-society actors.

Radio and television broadcasts amplified these messages to thousands more households, ensuring EU-supported reforms reached far beyond project villages.

 

Planning the Land—Protecting the Forest

Weak land-use planning has long fuelled deforestation and conflicts in coastal Tanzania. The EU-TaTEDO-SESO partnership tackled this challenge head-on.

For the two years of project implementation:

  • Ten new Village Land Use Plans (VLUPs) were developed, covering 72,372 hectares of land,
  • Another ten villages were supported to implement their VLUPs over 143,971 hectares, and
  • Village institutions—Land Use Committees, Councils, and Boundary Teams were trained with strong gender representation.

Together, these efforts created legally backed land-use systems that separate farming, settlement, grazing, and forest conservation, reducing disputes and safeguarding woodlands for future generations.

Community-Led Forest Management at Scale

Forest restoration has moved from paper plans to real protection on the ground. Through participatory forest inventories, boundary demarcation, and by-law development, communities have now secured Village Land Forest Reserves (VLFRS):

  • 14 Forest Management Plans (FMPs) prepared, with ten already approved, leading to 38,335 hectares of forest under VLFRs,
  • In the VLFRs where forest harvesting activities are planned, detailed Sustainable Forest harvesting plans defining legal charcoal quotas and regeneration cycles were developed.

More than 225 Village Natural Resource Committee members, women and men, were trained to monitor forest health, enforce rules, and oversee harvesting, laying the groundwork for long-term local stewardship.

Participatory Forest Resources Assessment conducted with VNRCs of  Kibesa village in Mkuranga and Kihare village in Kisarawe on the preparation of FMPs

Mangrove restoration in Bagamoyo and large-scale tree planting further strengthened the project’s climate and biodiversity impact. Institutions, including schools, hospitals, and centers for persons with disabilities and individual farmers, are the beneficiaries of tree planting. The area planted with trees and the regenerated mangrove area amounts to 223.5 acres.

Mangrove plantation in Bagamoyo

Cleaner Kilns, Higher Incomes

Across 32 villages, 882 charcoal producers were trained in Improved Basic Earth Mound Kilns (IBEK) and legal compliance. Early adopters report:

  • Up to 40% increases in charcoal output,
  • Better quality fuel, and
  • Higher household incomes.

Revised village by-laws now require improved kilns in several communities, embedding cleaner production methods into local governance systems.

To professionalise the sector, four district-level charcoal associations and marketing centres were formed, serving more than 260 traders and producers and strengthening links between sustainable supply and urban markets.

New Livelihoods for Women and Youth

Reducing pressure on forests also means creating alternatives to the charcoal business.

EU-supported livelihood enterprises have flourished:

  • Beekeeping groups expanded to 325 active hives, with early harvests earning up to TZS 480,000 per group,
  • Solar-drying cooperatives, mostly women-led, generated over TZS 18 million in three months, and
  • Baking groups using efficient ovens recorded strong profits in Rufiji and Mkuranga.

Four biomass briquette centres were also launched, with women forming the majority of trained entrepreneurs, turning agricultural residues into clean cooking fuels.

 Apiary for beehives in Mkuranga and Kibiti DCs, respectively

 

Gender at the Centre

Gender equality is not an add-on; it is a design principle.

Women now account for over 41% of all project participants, hold leadership positions in village committees and charcoal associations, and dominate several of the new green enterprises supported by the project.

Across more than 100 activities, TaTEDO-SESO systematically applied gender-responsive selection criteria and monitoring tools, keeping the project on track to exceed its 40% inclusion target.

Visibility and Partnership

EU support has been highly visible on the ground through branded signboards, brochures, radio programmes, calendars, and national exhibitions.

At Tanzania’s largest trade fairs and environmental events, TaTEDO-SESO booths attracted thousands of visitors, sharing lessons on sustainable charcoal, forest governance, and clean energy transitions.

 

Representatives from the baking group (left) during International Women’s Day in Mkuranga and the briquette group (right) at the NaneNane Exhibition in Morogoro in 2025

 

A Blueprint for Sustainable Energy Transitions

By the end of its second year, the project had reached 1,691 value-chain actors and introduced integrated sustainable charcoal approaches in 54 villages, already surpassing its original geographic targets.

With most key indicators achieved or on track, the EU–TaTEDO-SESO partnership is emerging as a national model for how forest conservation, climate action, gender equality, and rural incomes can advance together.

As implementation moves into its final phase, the focus will be on scaling impact, strengthening market access, and embedding reforms in district and national planning systems, ensuring Tanzania’s charcoal sector becomes not a driver of deforestation, but a pillar of sustainable development.