Dahari celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023! A decade of commitment to the rural population and biodiversity of the Comoros. To mark this milestone, we invite you to explore 10 figures representing Dahari's evolution and impact from 2013 to 2023.

Growing development through our collaborations

On 16 February 2013, Dahari was officially established during the first Board of Directors meeting. This marked the start of a Comorian and independent institution, a major outcome of the project. Community Engagement for Sustainable Development (ECDD) which lasted five years from 2008 to 2012.

Dahari's first year was not straightforward. With only €67,000 in funding, all 15 staff had to accept reduced salaries to get the NGO off the ground.

10 years later, Dahari has 64 employees and has reached an annual budget of €780,000. A huge thank you to all our funders who have enabled this evolution, but especially to the three main ones for this period: the European Union, the British government's Darwin Initiative, and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).

Since 2013 we have signed agreements with 67 technical and financial partners all put together (some on multiple occasions); these different collaborations have been a key to our success. We have been fortunate to be supported by internationally renowned institutions as well as loyal national partners.

Our results on the ground

With 10,000 farmers supported since 2013, 2,750 foresters accompanied since 2017, and 1,300 fishermen supported since 2016, making a total of 75,000 direct beneficiaries, including families. (The average family size in Comoros is 5.37 individuals according to the World Bank). The number of indirect beneficiaries is even greater if we want to account for the impacts on ecosystem services, examples of techniques replicated by neighbours…

In collaboration with these beneficiaries, we have ensured:

• Planting 420,000 trees, including 200,000 fast-growing cuttings. These trees are planted by farmers in their fields thanks to a participatory approach. The result was a recovery rate of 72% after one year.
• The planting of 280,000 sought-after food seeds (banana trees, cassava, yams, taro, sweet potatoes) by farmers, who continue to multiply them, contributing to empowerment of productivity improvement.
• The protection of 228 hectares of reefs through local management measures (permanent You temporary) thanks to a gradual increase in the number of fisherfolk involved in initiatives as association members (from 58 in 2016 to 501 in 2023).

Regarding the counting of Livingstones that Dahari carries out biannually since 2013, the number of known Roussette bats has increased from more than 75% to 1,489 individuals thanks to the discovery of new dormitories and the conservation efforts undertaken – Seven dormitories are now protected by conservation agreements.

These field results are based on numerous studies conducted by our teams, by Comorian and foreign interns, or with our collaborators. Thirty documents – including reports published in scientific journals – are available on our website.

For even more impact!

We are proud of our results and our impact over ten years, but we are also aware that we are far from achieving our objective: the restoration of the Comorian ecosystems with rural populations.

However, we are confident – thanks to our strategic plan published at the start of 2022 and the evolution of our three programmes – forests, agroforestry, and marine – since. The best is yet to come. Instead of resting on past successes, we are in the process of re-examining all our interventions to go further and ensure greater impact.

Ten years after its birth, Dahari is a strong institution thanks to a solid and supportive team, a remarkable Board of Directors, and trusted links from our areas of intervention to the international level. This institutional anchoring is perhaps Dahari's greatest achievement, and we intend to build on these successes to make a significant difference over the next 10 years.

We thank everyone and all the institutions that have contributed to Dahari's first ten years, and we hope to have your support for the decade to come!