Help Women in Kenya Confront Climate Change

In Kenya, The Indigenous Information Network (IIN) works with Indigenous women at the forefront of effectively managing environmental issues related to the climate crisis and leading longer-term solutions. 

With support from you and MADRE, Lucy, the Executive Director of IIN, and her team provide trainings to Indigenous women throughout Kenya, focusing on the impact of Climate Change on food production and land use. Indigenous women also learn how to protect and conserve the environment to ensure the rehabilitation of their land. 

IIN hosted a “Youth Climate Change Workshop” because, through their partnership with the Ogiek Youth Council, they learned that most young people are unaware of the technical term, “Climate Change” and its impacts on the environment. The topic was very new to them and during the workshop, they shared their willingness to learn and take action against climate change. Indigenous women from older generations helped in mobilizing the younger Indigenous girls and shared real-life experiences and strategies to combat the effects of climate change during the trainings. Now having this knowledge, participants can educate other people in their communities on why taking care of the environment is vital.

One of the participants was a young Indigenous girl named Esther. She loves to learn new things and from the expertise of Indigenous women before her, she learned the importance of planting trees and protecting the environment from animal overgrazing and deforestation. She asked the Ogiek Youth Council to support her initiative to start planting trees in her home garden and in nearby places in her community. She continues to plant trees and encourages girls to plant their own to further protect the planet. 

Esther’s story, along with many other Indigenous women and girls in Kenya, demonstrates the power of creating opportunities for young women and girls to learn and educate themselves about the climate crisis – which in turn fuels their self-determination to protect the earth. 

Thank you for supporting Esther’s tree planting efforts in Kenya.

*Name has been changed to protect the individual.