Site Visit, Meetings, Sensitization and Clean Up - Ngong River
Soweto East in Nyayo Highrise Ward smelled of river-mud and ambition — the kind of morning where international visitors step carefully on paths locals navigate blind. ETCO hosted a joint awareness and cleanup with partners who brought expertise and left with stories: Power Engineers’ Don Stuartuvent, Erik Nquist, and Gino; Ecologists Without Borders’ Cleve Stuart; Nairobi Rivers Commission’s Rebecca Bor; Kounkey Designs Initiative’s Ibrahim and team; PAKPRO’s Melissa Kasaba; Nairobi County’s Assistant County Commissioner Rodrick Cheruiyot, District County Commissioner Eliud Waweru Ngung’u, area chiefs Isaac and Kennedy; and the office of MCA representative Moses Oyoo — alongside Zone 2 stakeholders and residents who did the heaviest lifting.
Speakers did not sugar-coat. Solid waste badly managed in Kibera does not stay in Kibera — it slips toward loss of life and property downstream. Between words, people picked plastic, pulled debris, and proved that “Let The Rivers Flow” is labour, not a slogan.
What the day moved
Eighty-seven participants joined the cleanup; two hundred and ten community members received sensitisation. One hundred and fifty metres of riverbank were cleared; 3.2 tonnes of wet waste came out — weight you can feel in your shoulders when bags tear and volunteers improvise.
We are proud of the partnerships and hungry for the next honest step: consistent collection, fair support for youth on the line, and plans that listen to people who sleep closest to the water. Partner with Zone 2 — fund a tool, join a Saturday, or tell the truth about waste where you live.
Engaging Children through Feeding Program
Thanks to Chris and Jayne, ETCO had a warm feeding program for children at our new office—bringing joy, a good meal, and community together in Kibera.
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.