Green Belt Movement Kenya

GBM Kenya has planted trees in nine districts in Kenya (Bungoma, Embu, Kisii, Machakos, Maragua/Muranga, Meru, Nyeri, South Nyanza, Trans Nzoia). According to the organisation the act of planting a tree helps women become stewards of the natural environment. By protecting the environment, these women also become powerful champions for sustainable management of scarce resources such as water, equitable economic development, good political governance, and, ultimately, peace.

While tree planting has always been the focal activity, GBM Kenya programmes have expanded to include projects in civic education, advocacy, food security, greenbelt eco-safaris, and “women and change”.

GBM Kenya’s six core programmes include:

1. Environmental Conservation/Tree Planting: GBM Kenya led a nationwide campaign to conserve local biodiversity, enhance natural beauty and prevent soil erosion. Kenya's forest cover is less than 2% and GBM Kenya is engaged in a campaign to promote the planting of indigenous trees in forest catchment areas, private farms and public spaces to preserve local biological diversity. The GBM Kenya strategy is based on a ten-step procedure that culminates in the purchase of seedlings by GBM Kenya from groups. The groups benefit from the income generated through the sale of their seedlings, and the goal towards reforestation is advanced.
2. Civic and Environmental Education: After recognising the need to strengthen civil society's concern for the environment, GBM Kenya established a pilot civic education and advocacy project to raise public awareness on the need to protect the environment and to be active participants in the political process by voting. Through seminars offered at the GBM Learning Center in Nairobi, participants received information on good governance, culture and the environment, advocacy and environmental justice. Most seminars involve resource persons conversant with the linkages between poor governance, bottlenecks to development and the environment. To date, close to 10,000 people have been trained. As part of the environmental education programme, GBM Kenya collaborates with The Stroud Water Research Center (SWRC) to engage schools in a pilot project to increase their awareness in environmental conservation, sensitise the community on the importance of conserving riparian reserves, actively involve students in the leaf pack study, and mobilise them to conserve the stream and riparian reserves through tree planting. GBM Kenya encourages the students and communities to plant indigenous trees in order to conserve local biodiversity, prevent soil erosion and enhance natural beauty.
3. Advocacy and Networking: Advocacy activities within GBM Kenya began in the late 1980s when gross mismanagement and abuse of the environment was tolerated by the government. In response, GBM Kenya directed its advocacy efforts towards preventing forest destruction, ending poor governance and ending human rights atrocities such as tribal clashes and corruption (especially the illegal allocation of public land). To date, GBM Kenya has made significant contributions not only in rehabilitating the physical environment but also in raising environmental consciousness through workshops and seminars on civic and environmental education.GBM Kenya is well know for its efforts to save Uhuru Park, Karura Forest and Jivanjee Gardens - all major green spaces in the city of Nairobi that were threatened by illegal allocation.
4. Pan African Training Workshops: In recognition of the need for a systematic approach to the deforestation challenge, Dr. Mostafa Tolba (then Executive Director, United Nations Environmental Program - UNEP) challenged GBM Kenya to share its methodologies and approach with development workers and stakeholders in Africa and beyond. In 1997, GBM Kenya established a Pan-African Green Network to share the GBM approach through two-week training workshops. The overall goal of the programme was to share the approach while raising awareness on the importance of conserving local biodiversity. Since 1998, three Pan-African workshops have been held during which 55 persons from 36 organisations of 15 African countries have participated.
5. Green Belt Safaris (GBS): Given the growing outside interest in the success of GBM Kenya's community-based approach to environmental conservation, GBM Kenya organised visits to community projects where guests could experience the work by staying and working with communities for 5-7 days. This was followed by a few days of conventional tourism developed into Green Belt Safaris (GBS). The mission is to offer a cultural experience through community home stays where guests enjoy an exchange with their host-families while participating in field activities (seed collection, nursery preparation, tree planting, food security/processing and civic education), community projects, harvesting, meal preparation etc. Since 2000, GBS has hosted 10 groups for community-based safaris. In 2003, The GAIA Foundation facilitated the establishment of the Earth Community Network to create experiential learning opportunities for individuals and institutions interested in exploring ways in which they can live in a mutually beneficial manner with nature. The network comprises organizations from seven countries (Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and South Africa) that are involved in inspiring individuals and communities to protect and appreciate the natural world. In Kenya, the learning opportunity is offered through the Green Belt Movement. Through this programme participants engage in a two-week experience that combines participatory discussions with local leaders at the GBM Learning Center, community home stays with GBM groups and a wilderness excursion (Aberdare National Park).
6. Women for Change (Capacity Building): This is a women and girls programme, launched in 2003 with the aim to:

• assist young girls and women to face the challenges of growing up, make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, and gain knowledge and skills to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS;
• facilitate the establishment of income generating activities (IGAs) such as tree planting, bee keeping and food processing to engender economic empowerment and;
• promote healthy eating habits of indigenous food crops known to have high nutritional value, through food production and processing.

The Women for Change (WfC) programme was started with support from Comic Relief, UK to promote a holistic approach to the needs of women and girls. The approach combines capacity building of women and women's networks, gender equity promotion, providing skills for HIV/AIDS prevention, and supporting local initiatives for food security, environment and income generation. Through these programmes WfC provides GBM-Kenya assisted networks with services and resources such as:

• facilitating links between community groups and government offices to access information and resource;
• conducting training sessions to offer skills for HIV/AIDS and early pregnancy prevention;
• participating in mass actions and events for awareness raising on issues such as HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and environmental degradation;
• participating in the formation and revival of women networks such as with the Kenya Association of University Women;
• networking with other women's organisations such as the Girl Guides, Society of Women and AIDS in Kenya (SWAK), National Council of Women of Kenya and University Women and;
• training women on skills for income generating activities.

Environment, Health, Gender, Econonic Development, Democracy and Governance, Women, HIV/AIDS.

The organisation's goal is to plant one billion trees worldwide and to create a society of people who consciously work for continued improvement of their environment and a greener, cleaner Kenya. Its mission is to mobilise community consciousness for self-determination, equity, improved livelihoods and security, as well as environmental conservation.

According to the organisers, through its projects GBM Kenya has succeeded in promoting environmental consciousness, volunteerism, conservation of local biodiversity, self-empowerment, community development, and accountability.

”More than 40 million trees have been planted across Africa. The result: soil erosion has been reduced in critical watersheds, thousands of acres of biodiversity-rich indigenous forest have been restored and protected, and hundreds of thousands of women and their families are standing up for their rights and those of their communities and so are living healthier, more productive lives. Yet, so much remains to be done. Forests are still being lost, democracy is fragile, and poverty is still widespread.”

The Green Belt Movement International, a non-profit umbrella organisation for GBM Kenya has the following four goals:

• strengthen and expand the Green Belt Movement in Kenya;
• share the Green Belt Movement’s programme with other countries in Africa and beyond;
• empower Africans, especially women and girls, and nurture their leadership and entrepreneurial skills and;
• advocate internationally for the environment, good governance, equity and cultures of peace