Care for Environment
Morning light catches plastic snagged in reeds along the Ngong River corridor, and the smell of damp soil rises where neighbours have already begun raking debris into sacks. This is not a distant conservation poster — it is work done in boots, with wheelbarrows, by people who live beside the water.
With support from the German Embassy, UN-Habitat, EcoWB, and Power Engineers, ETCO is walking alongside local groups to clean and restore stretches of the river. Community teams focus on their own sections — clearing channels, sorting waste, and testing ideas that turn a grim chore into safer neighbourhoods and small openings for work.
A Saturday that moves more than rubbish
The effort sits inside Nairobi’s wider “Let the Rivers Flow” push by the Nairobi Rivers Commission — a reminder that a river that breathes helps everyone downstream. On 20 November 2023, ETCO hosted a cleanup along Nairobi Dam tributaries in Nyayo Highrise Ward, inviting partners who care about the Ngong River staying healthy enough to support the city’s reservoir.
Along the Ngong, local groups work their own patches — not as strangers to the problem, but as people who know which bend traps plastic after rain and which footpaths children use on the way to school. That local focus is how fresh ideas show up: better sorting, safer burning where it must happen, odd jobs for youth who need a day’s pay, and a cleaner channel for the next person walking downstream.
Rivers do not fix themselves behind desks. If you want cleaner channels before the next heavy rain, join the next community sweep — gloves on, sleeves rolled, room for one more pair of hands.
Project Site Visit by Rotary Club of IPSWICH (USA) and Kikuyu (Kenya)
It was a great and engaging day of partnership and learning as we hosted the International Rotary Club of IPSWICH team, led by Environmental Lawyer Chris and his wife, Jane, Former President of Rotary Club of Kikuyu Hon. George Ngotho and Rotarian Yumbya for a visit to our project implementation sites. The visit provided an opportunity to review the project areas on the ground, discuss implementation priorities, and strengthen our shared commitment to sustainable environmental and community development. We also had the opportunity to visit the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC), where we were hosted by Commissioner Dr. Loice Kipkorir, a member of the Ngong River Committee. We explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration and align our work with the Nairobi Rivers Commission's Restoration Framework.
Community Capacity Building Training
We are currently participating in the ongoing PROVE (Public Space Governance Research, Observation, Validation and Experimentation) Pilot Programme, a four-month initiative by Public Space Networks (PSN) bringing together 11 community groups from Kamukunji and Korogocho. The programme focuses on strengthening community organizations’ capacity to manage, protect and improve public spaces as well as restoring rivers and it's ecosystems. The ongoing capacity-building training is helping CBOs and community organizations better understand the connection between public spaces, river restoration and ecosystem conservation, while exploring practical approaches and stronger collaboration among communities, government agencies, development partners and other stakeholders.
High Level NRC & Development Partners Meeting
Representing the Ngong River Regeneration Network, I'm having the privilege of attending a high-level breakfast meeting convened by the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC) in collaboration with the Kenya Permanent Mission to UN-Habitat. The meeting has brought together Development Partners, Government Agencies, Private Sector representatives, and Community representatives to deliberate on the restoration and sustainable management of Nairobi’s rivers.