On 24^th January 2024, KEPSA Foundation led by the Executive Director, Ms. Gloria Ndekei participated in the launch of Regreening Africa Project by Childfund Kenya and Dow East Africa that was held in Nairobi. The project objective is to mitigate the effects of climate change, promote employment for youth and women and promote long-term environmental responsibility in Kajiado, Makueni and Nairobi counties with a target of growing 130,000 fruit trees by December 2024.

The project focus is to work with youth and women to establish fruit tree nurseries as sustainable income-generating enterprises, act as learning centres that will promote the replication and sustainability of the project, build resilience to climate change vulnerabilities and financial management training for the youth and women participating in the project.

Mr. Chege Ngugi, the ChildFund Africa Regional Director, noted the important milestone the project represents in promoting community-led climate action and tackling the high level of youth unemployment across Africa by creating green jobs. Further, he noted that the Project will pave the way for decent employment while simultaneously building climate resilience and paving the way toward a greener, more environmentally sustainable future, championed by youth and women.

The launch was presided over by the Principal Secretary, State Department For Forestry of Forestry, Mr. Gitonga Mugambi on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Hon. Soipan Tuiya.  who called for collaboration by all stakeholders to combat climate change. Mr. Mugambi acknowledged the landscape restoration efforts undertaken by different stakeholders as it will increase the country’s tree cover to 30% by the year 2032. He noted that Climate action demands a collaborative approach of the government and the society with all stakeholders working together towards achieving the target of growing 15BN trees by 2032.

The launch was also attended by Ms. Alice Alinukur, Country Director at ChildFund Kenya; Mr. Leonard Kerako, Managing Director at Dow East Africa and various community representatives from the three counties among other stakeholders.