Southern Africa's economy is to a large extent based on agriculture. Many people still suffer from insufficient food supplies and do not have time or resources to protect their environments. Harsh climatic conditions, changing rainfall patterns and inappropriate farming methods aggravate this situation. Environment Africa works with both rural and urban communities and individuals to develop economic solutions to these challenges. With support and training from EAfrica, people can diversify their income and livelihood strategies, improve their food security and protect their environments. EAfrica's philosophy is to first uplift the livelihoods of the community in a sustainable manner and once this has been achieved to encourage communities to take care of and utilise the environment in a sustainable manner. E Africa works towards sustainable livelihoods by: • Fostering individual business enterprises through technical and financial support. These enterprises are income generating projects based on sustainable management of natural resources, such as tree nurseries, vegetable gardens and bee keeping,
• Supporting environmental champions to share their skills and knowledge with other farmers and schools in the local area.
• Capacity building, for example, training farmers in income generation, improved farming techniques and conservation.
• Enhancing food security, income levels and the sustainable management of natural resources leading to increased farm productivity and a better environment. Activities underway include watershed protection and soil improvement actions, using permaculture, water harvesting and agro-forestry. In addition, E Africa promotes the use of traditional, low-input indigenous crop varieties as well as ensuring availability of small grains seeds, and sharing traditional knowledge on intercropping, storage and preparation of seed for future use. Environment Africa assists rural communities in marketing their produce to obtain fair prices. EAfrica provides emergency relief where needed, addressing chronic food insecurity through supplementary child feeding though schools and pre-schools, reintroducing highly nutritious, drought resistant and fast maturing crops, ie sorghum, millet and cowpeas.
• Fostering the development of Environmental Action Groups (EAGs), which empower local communities to take action to improve the quality of the environment. There are now over 75 EAGs engaged in activities such as beekeeping, landscape design, gully reclamation, soap making etc.
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Uplifting Livelihoods 
