Leverina lives in Niwiri Village and is part of the Mucunha community in Mozambique. For the past few months, she has been one of the many women helping lead her community as they take collective action to build the community’s very first health center.

As Leverina and other community leaders led the planning for the health center, they recognized the need to cut down trees to burn blocks for its construction. However, they came to a consensus decision to only cut eucalyptus trees, which are non-native and not essential to the ecosystem and traditional medicine.

By taking this holistic approach, the women are supporting both the wellbeing of their community and the regrowth of native species in the forests of Mount Namuli, such as the Sivela, which protects the soil against erosion. This is just one example of the way the health center will have 360° of community-led change across many measures of wellbeing.

For example, this approach supports not just the forest and water sources, but the health, culture, and livelihoods of the Mucunha community.

For Legado’s winter campaign, we’ve set a goal of raising $100,000 to support community leaders like Leverina as they co-create their Thriving Future on Mount Namuli.

You can help us reach this goal by making a donation.

Gifts will offer support to the women of the Mucunha community as they lead the effort to build the health center and protect native trees. But it will also support the ongoing Thriving Futures process that makes this type of 360° Community-Led change possible.