The Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) has today launched the Young Environmentalist Innovative Challenge (YEIC), an environmental innovation fund that aims at developing action-oriented young individuals committed to the conservation of the environment.
The finalists of this challenge will be awarded in two categories; the first category will see three young environment champions awarded a grant of between Ksh800,000 to Ksh1,500,000, while the second category will have six organizations awarded a grant of between Ksh3,000,000 to Ksh5,000,000 each implementing their unique environment conservation-based ideas.
YEIC is an environmental innovation fund established by KCDF through the generous gift of Mackenzie Scott to support innovative ideas and solutions that promote environmental conservation,
sustainable resource management, and community resilience. KCDF has partnered with the National
Environment Trust Fund (NetFund), Green Generation Initiative (GGI), and National Council for
Nomadic Education in Kenya (NACONEK) under the Ministry of Education, to implement this
challenge.
In a ceremony that brought together, youth representatives, the private sector, environment
champions, advocates and enthusiasts, the event highlighted the importance of conserving the
environment with the involvement of youth as part of the efforts to mitigate the current global
challenges like drought and climate change.
Speaking during the event, the Chief Guest Mr. Samson Toniok, CEO – National Environment Trust
Fund (NetFund) applauded the initiative as timely when the world today is faced by unprecedented
environmental crises including the global phenomena of climate change, pollution and biodiversity
loss.
“As a community we need to know the difference between tree planting and tree growing and embrace the latter which is more effective.”
Michael Waiyaki, C.EO and Founder Miti Alliance
“The effects of these global challenges remain stark realities in our day-to-day lives such as frequent
droughts, rising waters, extreme weather and flash floods that continue to take the toll on Kenyans
and their livelihoods. For this reason, I would like to applaud KCDF for this noble initiative and
encourage your continued fostering partnerships for future success of this challenge,” he said.
On her part, the KCDF Executive Director highlighted the need to embrace and promote innovation
in the development sector.
“The YEIC challenge is a timely initiative and an empowering platform for the Kenyan youth who continue to face a stiff competition for resources against bigger organizations ~
Elizabeth Wathuti the Founder, Green Generation Initiative
“When you give organizations unrestricted funding, innovation comes about. People are able to take
the money where it is most needed. One of the key innovations we came up with is YEIC, that
challenges the youth and youth organizations to come up with environmental solutions that would
advance livelihoods and education. The narrative in the community has been that if we are
conserving the environment, livelihoods suffer, and our intention is to burst this myth,” said Ms.
Grace Maingi.
Gordon Odundo, a Board Director at KCDF challenged the youth to take lead in conserving the
environment. “The youth, this environment is your future, you need to protect it, look after it and
participate in the good work of preserving it,” he said.
This Young Environmentalist Innovative Challenge is built on KCDF’s environment work that began
in 2016 under the Wangari Maathai Scholarship Fund.
Click here to apply.
