Nakuru County, Kenya · Mau Forest Region
A Christian Organization in Kenya Helping Vulnerable Communities
We are a community-rooted network serving Ogiek families across the forest counties of Kenya — walking alongside them in education, environmental stewardship, Christian discipleship, and lasting development.
What We Do
Four pillars, one community
The Ogiek have cared for the Mau Forest for generations. Our work is built around the four areas Ogiek families themselves have named as most urgent.
Education
Bursaries, learning centres, and mother-tongue literacy so Ogiek children can stay in school.
Read more ↓Environment
Forest restoration, beekeeping livelihoods, and defending Ogiek land rights in the Mau.
Read more ↓Faith
Church planting, discipleship, and leadership training rooted in Ogiek culture and language.
Read more ↓Development
Clean water, health outreach, and small-enterprise support for Ogiek households.
Read more ↓Who Are The Ogiek
Caretakers of flora and fauna
The Ogiek are one of the last forest-dwelling, hunter-gatherer communities in East Africa. For centuries their home has been the Mau Forest — a highland water tower and one of East Africa's richest biodiversity areas.
Their name is widely translated as "caretakers of flora and fauna," and their traditional life — beekeeping, hunting, and gathering — shaped an intimate knowledge of the forest that still guides conservation efforts today. Decades of eviction and land pressure have tested that relationship, but Ogiek communities continue to press, including through the courts, for recognition of their ancestral land.
It is within this history that our network serves — not as outsiders arriving with answers, but as a network of Ogiek believers and neighbours working for our own community's flourishing. Our committees are made up of Ogiek church leaders, teachers, and elders, and every programme is shaped together with the villages we serve.
The Need We See
Why this network exists
Figures drawn from the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights ruling in African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights v. Republic of Kenya. Programme-level figures for our own network will be added here as they are verified.
Education
Keeping Ogiek children in the classroom
Many Ogiek villages sit deep within or on the edge of the Mau Forest, far from the nearest school. A child may walk long distances each day, and when fees, uniforms, or exam costs fall due, families with little cash income often have no choice but to keep a child home — especially girls. National curricula also rarely reflect Ogiek language, history, or forest knowledge.
We believe every Ogiek child deserves both: an education that opens doors nationally, and one that honours where they come from.
Bursary support
We work with local church and community committees to identify children at risk of dropping out and channel bursary support toward fees, uniforms, and exam registration.
Community learning points
In villages far from a formal school, we support informal learning points where children build foundational literacy and numeracy while formal placement is arranged.
Mother-tongue & heritage learning
Alongside the standard curriculum, we encourage sessions in Ogiek language and forest knowledge, led by elders.
Youth mentorship
Older Ogiek students and young professionals mentor younger children, showing what is possible while staying rooted in the community.
Every school shoe we help buy is also a message to a child: your education matters, and your community is behind you.
— Ogiek Christian Development Network, community education committee
Environment
A water tower under pressure
The Mau Forest Complex is one of Kenya's most important highland water catchments and one of East Africa's richest biodiversity areas — and the ancestral home of the Ogiek. Decades of logging, settlement, and conservation policy that once excluded the Ogiek rather than partnered with them have shrunk and fragmented the forest.
In 2017 the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights affirmed that the Ogiek are the forest's rightful ancestral occupants and should be central to its protection. We believe the traditional Ogiek relationship with the forest — beekeeping, careful harvesting, deep ecological knowledge — is part of the solution to protecting the Mau, not a threat to it.
Tree nurseries & replanting
We support community-run nurseries growing indigenous species and organise replanting on degraded forest edges.
Beekeeping enterprise
Beekeeping is a traditional Ogiek skill and forest-friendly livelihood — we help households access modern hives, basic training, and honey markets.
Land rights awareness
We help community members understand their rights following the African Court's rulings, and connect them with legal partners as ancestral land titling moves forward.
Elder-led conservation training
We create space for Ogiek elders to pass traditional ecological knowledge on to a younger generation.
We did not learn to protect this forest from a manual. Our grandparents taught us, and now it is our turn to teach our children.
— Ogiek Christian Development Network, environment committeeFaith
Faith that walks into daily life
Christianity has become part of the fabric of many Ogiek communities, often held alongside older cultural and spiritual traditions tied to the forest. Our network was founded by Ogiek church leaders who saw no divide between caring for a family's soul and caring for its material needs.
We serve everyone regardless of belief, and we are open about our Christian identity: our staff and volunteers pray with families, encourage local churches, and see every school fee paid or tree planted as an act of faith in practice.
Supporting local congregations
We partner with existing Ogiek churches across forest villages, offering practical support such as transport for pastors and connections between congregations.
Bible teaching in Ogiek context
Discipleship materials speak into Ogiek daily life — land, forest, family, community — rather than being imported wholesale from elsewhere.
Training local leaders
We invest in training for Ogiek pastors, youth leaders, and women's fellowship leaders so spiritual leadership stays in community hands.
Prayer & pastoral support
Our teams walk with families through hardship — illness, bereavement, land disputes — offering prayer and pastoral presence.
We do not bring faith from outside and development from outside either. Both grew here, in our own community, and that is why they belong together.
— Ogiek Christian Development Network, church partnership team
Development
Remote does not mean forgotten
Ogiek villages within and along the edges of the Mau Forest are often far from the nearest clinic, piped water, or market. Distance and years of land insecurity have meant public infrastructure has been slow to reach many communities, even as national development has moved forward elsewhere.
We focus development support on the basics that make the biggest daily difference: water within reach of home, care within reach when someone falls ill, and income that does not require leaving the forest to earn.
Clean water points
We support drilling and protecting boreholes and springs, prioritising villages where women and children walk long distances to fetch water.
Health outreach
We organise periodic health outreach and link families to nearby clinics, with a focus on maternal and child health.
Small enterprise support
Beyond beekeeping, we support small farming groups, savings circles, and basic business training.
Local capacity building
Community members are trained to maintain what is built — a hand pump, a nursery, a small shop — so improvements last.
A well close to home changes a mother's whole day — and a whole day changed adds up to a whole life changed.
— Ogiek Christian Development Network, development committeeGet Involved
Let's talk
Whether you want to volunteer, partner on a project, sponsor a child, or simply learn more about the Ogiek community, we'd love to hear from you.
This site is newly launched — please update the details below with confirmed phone, email, and location before publishing.
- Location: Nakuru County, Kenya (serving the Mau Forest counties)
- Email: info@ogiekchristiandevelopmentnetwork.org
- Phone / WhatsApp: add your number here
- Office hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00am–5:00pm EAT
Ways to get involved
- Sponsor a student — support school fees, uniforms, or supplies.
- Fund a project — water points, tree nurseries, or beekeeping kits.
- Volunteer — teaching, medical outreach, or professional skills.
- Pray & partner with a church — encourage an Ogiek congregation.