About Us - Bees Abroad

About Bees Abroad

Grassroots Organisation, Global Ambition

Bees Abroad works directly with communities and in-country partners to mentor and train in local beekeeping best practices, business skills, and protecting the environment

All our projects are based on three pillars to ensure we achieve our mission and drive impact

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Creating Opportunities

CREATING GRASS-ROOTS SOCIETAL CHANGE

After struggling to provide for her three children, Mrs Afuape Fadilate Abosede joined the Abotokio Slow Food Beekeeping Community Women’s Group. Here she attended Bees Abroad training leading her to start her own business as a honey producer, creating products such as beeswax creams and soaps. The money she raises is being used to expand the business and pay her children’s school fees.

Generating Income

BUSINESS CREATION AND ACCESS TO MARKET

Merioth in Kenya, who after training with the Nairobi Beekeeping Institute set up a honey business, Nomo, that sells honey, hive products and beekeeping equipment. Through her own consultancy service, she is training beekeepers in local practices. Increasing her monthly income from £160 to £400.

Protecting The Environment

PROMOTING BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

As well as the impact on livelihoods, there is the significant benefit to the environment as forests are protected, trees are planted, biodiversity is encouraged and crops yields increased.

By investing in community-led projects and collaborating to meet local needs, we ensure our projects have a sustainable and lasting impact on communities and their environment

Why Beekeeping?

Beekeeping is a sustainable, cost-effective, and ecologically friendly way for communities to generate an income and a food source, and to build and grow a business.

There is a significant opportunity to increase honey production in the countries we work in. Demand for honey exceeds supply and conditions are often well suited to beekeeping.

Kenya is reported to produce only 14.6% of its potential honey production levels and Tanzania only 13.8%. ¹

This can be linked to a lack of policies, investment, training and knowledge.

Our projects offer the opportunity to not only increase honey production in communities but to do so sustainably using local beekeeping practices and knowledge.

We have seen first-hand the diverse impact beekeeping has. Working with a strong network of in-country partners, communities receive training, support, and guidance in building and inspecting hives, locally sourcing equipment, harvesting and processing honey and setting up micro-businesses.

“Women make excellent beekeepers but historically in Africa it’s been a male domain. Things are changing and Bees Abroad has been a pioneer in Women’s Beekeeping”.

Adebisi Adenuki New

Advocate for Women’s Beekeeping.

Bees Abroad Values

The Bees Abroad approach and projects are shaped around 6 key values, which underpin everything we do

INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE

Bees Abroad works with rural communities where beekeeping skills and knowledge aren’t easily accessible.

This way we ensure marginalised individuals, communities facing hardship, or those living in hard to reach communities can benefit from beekeeping training.

COLLABORATIVE

Bees Abroad understands the importance of collaboration. We work in partnership with NGOs, organisations, and charities to help provide skills and opportunities.

Bees Abroad is committed to community-led development and bringing communities together.

COMMUNITY-LED

Bees Abroad projects are unique in that each project is designed and implemented directly with and by individuals in the community.

Together with our in-country partners, and community members we identify and assess challenges faced, and then collaboratively design sustainable projects that address these needs.

SELF-SUFFICIENT

We want to see success expanding from community to community and generation to generation. 

Each Bees Abroad project is led by the community and grows from within. We ensure projects can continue to be managed locally, are suited to the local climate, and use local materials to make equipment. Once communities gain the skills and experience, they are able to replicate projects and share knowledge around beekeeping, business creation, and environmental care.

EMPOWERING

To Bees Abroad, empowerment goes beyond our projects and participant involvement. It refers to the lasting impact our work has.

Our projects give people the skills and expertise to own their projects and take action that makes social, economic, and environmental change. We work to see project participants gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to empower themselves, their families and community by earning an income through beekeeping.

SUSTAINABLE

Sustainability is at the heart of what we do.

Sustainability is at the heart of what we do. Our work, projects, values, and impact are all shaped under three key pillars of sustainability - Social, Economic, and Environmental.

The Need

Uganda is ranked

3rd

in the world as the country with the highest economic dependency rate (99.5%)

This can be attributed to multiple barriers to economic independence, including high youth unemployment which is 83% for people 15-24 years old.

Extreme poverty is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, with about

40%

of the region’s people living on less than $1.90 a day ²

With parents unable to pay for school fees, over 33.8million children/19% of children are out of school. ³ Without an education children grow up struggling to provide for their own children – generating a cycle of challenges.

Over

65%

of Tanzanians live in rural areas and depend on agriculture to survive.

However, many communities have learnt Beekeeping without the support or guidance needed to build sustainable beekeeping communities that are locally appropriate. Without this guidance beekeepers will be working hard and getting poor harvests in return..

Uganda is ranked

3rd

in the world as the country with the highest economic dependency rate (99.5%)

Extreme poverty is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, with about

40%

of the region’s people living on less than $1.90 a day ²

Over

65%

of Tanzanians live in rural areas and depend on agriculture to survive.

This can be attributed to multiple barriers to economic independence, including high youth unemployment which is 83% for people 15-24 years old.

With parents unable to pay for school fees, over 33.8million children/19% of children are out of school. ³ Without an education children grow up struggling to provide for their own children – generating a cycle of challenges.

However, many communities have learnt Beekeeping without the support or guidance needed to build sustainable beekeeping communities that are locally appropriate. Without this guidance beekeepers will be working hard and getting poor harvests in return..

How to get involved

Learn about our projects

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¹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436742/

² https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/number-poor-people-continues-rise-sub-saharan-africa-despite-slow-decline-poverty-rate

³ https://ourworldindata.org/children-not-in-school

About Bees Abroad

Grassroots Organisation, Global Ambition

Creating Opportunities

CREATING GRASS-ROOTS SOCIETAL CHANGE

Generating Income

BUSINESS CREATION AND ACCESS TO MARKET

Protecting The Environment

PROMOTING BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

Why Beekeeping?

Bees Abroad Values

INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE

COLLABORATIVE

COMMUNITY-LED

SELF-SUFFICIENT

EMPOWERING

SUSTAINABLE

The Need

Uganda is ranked

3rd

in the world as the country with the highest economic dependency rate (99.5%)

Extreme poverty is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, with about

40%

of the region’s people living on less than $1.90 a day ²

Over

65%

of Tanzanians live in rural areas and depend on agriculture to survive.

Uganda is ranked

3rd

in the world as the country with the highest economic dependency rate (99.5%)

Extreme poverty is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, with about

40%

of the region’s people living on less than $1.90 a day ²

Over

65%

of Tanzanians live in rural areas and depend on agriculture to survive.

How to get involved

Learn about our projects

Sign up to our newsletter

Support our work

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UK Registered Charity Number: 1108464

Win a free copy of 'Bee Quest' by Dave Goulson​

Win a free copy of 'Bee Quest' by Dave Goulson