FINCA Malawi called for youth to actively partake in environmental conservation to secure transformed landscapes and livelihoods in the future. Speaking after planting 1,200 trees at Chikwawa Primary School on 17th January, 2020, FINCA Malawi’s marketing manager, Violet Mangani said planting the trees at the school is a tactic to ensure that students play a role in nurturing the trees, which will grow to protect the environment around them.

FINCA’s Chief Accountant, Esther Sikelo, plants a tree during the tree planting exercise.

The students were encouraged to take ownership of the trees the same way they would expect a financial institution to secure their funds. FINCA operates on the core values of Warmth, Trust and Responsible Banking, which highlighted the objective for the tree planting exercise. Pupils at Chikwawa Primary School had the opportunity to learn how nurturing the trees is similar to growing into a responsible adult who manages their financial resources from the initial investment and savings stage of a tree seedling.

Chikwawa District Forestry Officer, Hector Mgawi, says they aim to reach out to a wide range of communities in the district to encourage environmental conservation due to escalating incidents of floods in the region. Following the launch of the tree planting season, themed ‘Trees and Forests for Transformed Landscapes and Livelihoods,’ the District Forestry Office aims to support the government in planting 62 million trees across the country.