|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Mary Mwendwa
Nairobi- What began as one young Rotaractor’s weekend passion for planting trees has grown into a movement spanning 19 counties, 265 schools, and more than 100,000 learners. Now, Miti Alliance has been selected from over 800 environmental projects globally to join a fundraising campaign that could dramatically scale its impact—but time is running out.
The grassroots organisation, founded in 2018 by Michael Ng’ang’a, has been chosen by Ma Earth to participate in a collective funding round that amplifies community donations through a matching pool. Under the model, a donation of just $5 can unlock up to $50 for the organisation. For a small Kenyan social enterprise, the opportunity is rare and could provide the resources to plant thousands more indigenous trees, expand school programs, and create regenerative kitchen gardens across the country.
“Everything we do is built around one idea: restoring nature while improving people’s lives,” said Ng’ang’a, who first discovered his calling as a young Rotaractor volunteering in every tree-planting initiative he could find. “Weekend after weekend, I planted trees and encouraged others to care for the environment. It became my life’s mission.”
Miti Alliance has since evolved into a comprehensive environmental organisation with four core programs. Its flagship Miti Schools Program works with public schools across Kenya, teaching children about biodiversity through hands-on experiences, planting indigenous and fruit trees, and establishing organic kitchen gardens.
Through the Miyawaki method, the organisation creates dense native forests to rapidly restore biodiversity on degraded land. Its Kitchen Gardens initiative helps schools and communities establish regenerative organic gardens that improve nutrition, food security, and climate resilience, while the Miti Wellness program connects human well-being with environmental health. The organisation has already partnered with schools in Laikipia County to introduce climate-smart farming, helping institutions set up greenhouses and water harvesting systems to strengthen school feeding programmes.
The Ma Earth campaign uses a quadratic funding model, meaning the number of individual supporters matters more than the size of donations. The more people who contribute—regardless of amount—the larger Miti Alliance’s share of the matching pool. The campaign ends in just a few days, making this a particularly urgent moment for the organisation.
With less than 7% tree cover remaining in Kenya and severe climate change impacts already being felt, the stakes are high. Miti Alliance aims to plant 5 million trees by 2025.
The campaign closes in days, and donations can be made through the Ma Earth platform, with every contribution amplified through the matching fund.
