Community buy-in is more important than efficiency in projects like this.

"The process started with the community-based participatory planning," WFP program policy officer Bakalilou Diaby shares in the video. "By the end of this process, it was agreed that one of the major action is the land reclamation or land recovery project."

At first, it took some time to convince the community that the regreening of the degraded landscape was even possible, but after learning about how to improve the land, "the people believe and they are convinced, and they are also committed," says Diaby.

Sure, these projects could be done more efficiently by one construction company with heavy machinery, but that takes dollars these dirt poor areas don't have (and I think Trump's bullshit arbitrary defunding of USAID is an object lesson for developing countries not to rely on foreign charity for anything important, among many, many other reasons why foreign charity is bad for development). So local people need to know how to do it with local resources in order to expand the projects to new areas.

Just as important, local communities need to support and maintain these projects in the long run, and sweat equity is a great way to build commitment.