Rwanda Plants Fruit Trees in Schools

Why this is here: One Acre Fund has already distributed over 145 million trees, bringing years of experience to this new partnership focused on long-term community resilience.

UNICEF and Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment will plant over 160,000 fruit trees in nearly 4,500 schools and 232 ECD centers. The initiative, called “Our Trees, Our Future,” aims to improve school feeding programs and teach environmental conservation. Each school should receive roughly 40 seedlings of avocado, mango, orange, and lemon.

Planting is scheduled to begin during the rainy season, between September and November. One Acre Fund will assist with grafting, monitoring, and ensuring the trees survive. UNICEF’s Etleva Kadilli highlighted Rwanda’s high primary school enrollment as a reason the program could reach most children.

The program seeks to address food security and environmental degradation simultaneously. Officials also hope the trees will protect school buildings from wind damage. Though the initiative builds on existing reforestation efforts targeting 300 million seedlings, long-term survival rates and consistent care of the trees remain a key challenge.