The Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA). EFA's mission is to restore and protect the environment. It operates primarily through environmental education and awareness raising. It builds up communities' and institutions' appreciation and understanding of environmental management and the impacts of environmental damage on lives and livelihoods. EFA facilities community-led programmes for environmental restoration, conservation and sustainable livelihoods and provides training and support in sustainable agriculture and forest management, agro-forestry, energy conservation, sustainable income generation including eco-tourism, and rehabilitation of degraded natural resources. It is clear that EFA has a unique expertise in operating in conflict zones, humanitarian and refugee operations, post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation, and the transition to sustainable development. It has worked with refugee and returnee communities in Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as in villages and communities in Sierra Leone to rehabilitate areas damaged through mining and deforestation. EFA will:

• work with the re-integration of returnee communities in Sierra Leone extending its audience in raising awareness of environmental issues to all sectors of the population
• ensure that reconstruction itself is done sustainably so as to minimise the negative environmental impacts of reconstruction projects through assisting “greening” other organisations’ operations
• continue its work with developing sustainable livelihoods for environmental protection and conservation through community-based initiatives such as eco-tourism
• continue its work in empowering communities to rehabilitate the environment where it has been damaged through logging, mining and other socio-economic activities
• give technical assistance and advice on environmental issues to partners as other NGOs to relieve the pressure on the environment humanitarian work put and encourage them to integrate environmentals components in their work
• consolidate its operations in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia, and strengthen its institutional capacity and core functions, to enable it to expand further in West Africa. In the longer term it aims to build on its unique expertise in environmental issues in humanitarian relief and conflict, reconstruction, and the transition to development, by expanding regionally and internationally in response to demand.