Wezesha Community-Based Organization (CBO) is a women-led non-profit organization in Nakuru, Kenya. The organization works with women, youth, and local communities to restore forests and landscapes for sustainable socioeconomic and environmental benefits. Our work aims to build local communities’ resilience to the impacts of climate change and restore landscape functions.
Our communities are core decision-makers in the design, implementation, and adaptive management of forest and landscape interventions, helping build a strong culture of social and environmental responsibility. We believe that strengthening and empowering women, youth, and local communities is critical for impactful landscape restoration.
Brief History
The Wezesha CBO journey dates back to 2010 when 10 great friends would meet regularly to catch up and share on the happenings in our community such as disappearing indigenous trees, deteriorating soil fertility and crop yields, and the challenges that women faced when rains were inadequate and the crops failed.
We were passionate about taking action to help fellow women and youth deal with the impacts of climate change. From a long list of actions, we felt we could take to help our communities, we agreed to start by focusing on planting indigenous trees in degraded forests, women empowerment, and youth mentorship in environmental conservation. We began exploring the possibility of registering a women-led CBO which we completed in 2020.
We funded our initial activities with a monthly contribution of Ksh 200. During the rainy seasons, we would visit schools, colleges, health facilities, and churches engage in discussions on environmental conservation, and plant trees. We also used our savings to mentor young people, both boys and girls in public primary and secondary schools, and support menstrual hygiene by giving free sanitary towels to adolescent girls.
The diverse expertise, skills, and experience of the founding members have been invaluable and have helped us to provide training at no monetary cost to women, youth, and other community-based groups in tree nursery establishment, hairdressing, soap making, beadwork, and baking.
Wezesha CBO is currently working with more than 30 community-based self-help and small-holder farmer groups, with a membership of more than 2000 community members in Nakuru County. Women members constitute about 60% and 15% are youth.
Our Vision:
A community where local people are in charge of their lives, environment, wealth creation, and food sovereignty.
Our Mission:
To establish and maintain high-quality, locally-led forest and landscape restoration and management solutions that regenerate landscape functions including biodiversity conservation, and build resilient and food-secure communities.
Core Values:
- Self-reliance and determination
- Solidarity with resource-limited communities.
- Partnerships in development
- Professional ethics
- Respect for culture
- Equity for all
- Gender equity
Partners
- Community Forest Associations (CFAs)
- Kenya Forest Service
- County Government of Nakuru
- The International Tree Foundation
- TerraFund for AFR100
- Kenya Defence Forces (KDF)-Lanet
- Equity Bank
- The Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology
- Selected Public Schools
- Selected Public Health Facilities