Workshop focused on application of Nature-Based Solutions
The room smelled of coffee and rain on windows — UN-Habitat, ICLEI Africa, and KDI had packed the 3EP project into a day that asked a hard question: how do you heal a city’s rivers without pretending people living beside them are an afterthought?
ETCO attended as learners and contributors. The workshop pressed nature-based solutions into real Nairobi soil — not as a trendy label, but as roots, stone, wetlands, shade, the boring miracles that hold banks together when storms arrive. Alongside that came ecosystem-based adaptation and participatory planning — phrases that matter only when they translate into who gets heard in a meeting and who gets flooded when a plan fails.
Sessions pushed participants from definitions to practice: how to design interventions informal settlements can maintain, how rights show up in environmental work, how to plan with communities rather than for them. The facilitators did not let anyone hide behind slides.
We left with sharper tools and a longer to-do list. If you are a technician, a chief, or a youth leader working a river line, connect with us — we want the next designs to be tested where gumboots are already worn thin.
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.