Dr. Manu Chandaria donated to KEPSA Foundation three tree seedlings nurseries. These were St. Elizabeth Girls Chepkunyuk Nandi, Lenana School in Nairobi, and Kenyatta High School in Mwatate. These nurseries were part of ten nurseries donated by the Chandaria Foundation across the country.
On 22nd March 2025, KEPSA Foundation with its partners travelled to Nandi County to launch the St. Elizabeth Girls School Chepkunyuk tree nursery in Nandi County. The event was officiated by Hon. Julius Melly, Member of Parliament for Tinderet Constituency. Other notable guests included Hon. Bernard Kitur, Member of Parliament for Nandi Hills Constituency; Mr Arnold Kipchumba, Director of Environment and Climate Action; Mama Doing Good; and Ms. Jane Sitienei, Chief Principal of St. Elizabeth Girls, alongside the school Board led by the Board Chairman, Dr. John Chumo. Partners at the launch included Chandaria Foundation, Global Peace Foundation, KCB Foundation, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Education and the Kenya Forestry Service. The School Environment Club represented the students.
In remarks delivered on behalf of Ms. Gloria Ndekei, Executive Director, KEPSA Foundation, she commended St. Elizabeth Girls Chepkunyuk for their commitment to nurturing the nursery, which currently has the capacity to grow 66,000 seedlings annually. She also highlighted that the Foundation is leading efforts to promote sustainable environmental practices and conservation, with a focus on community climate action and sustainability. This is achieved through a program dubbed Kijani Initiative, which supports the establishment of tree nurseries, orchards, and tree planting programs.
The establishment of orchards in Schools, Kijani initiative, started in 2018 when KEPSA Foundation planted over 400 avocado trees at Mang’u and Lenana Schools in Nairobi. The initiative, has been scaled up through a partnership with Dow Chemicals Eastern Africa and ChildFund and continues to establish orchards and plant trees in schools. The first phase of this initiative focuses on working with selected schools across 6 counties and so far, orchards have been established at Kiriri Comprehensive Primary School in Ndeiya, Kiambu County and Ngangu Secondary School in Mwatate, Taita Taveta National Polytechnic (Voi Campus) with additional schools in Makueni and Tharaka Nithi Counties targeted for quarter one in 2025. Over the next 5 years. KEPSA Foundation aims to expand this program to reach over 200 schools in the country.
Further, to support the growing demand for tree seedlings following the government’s plan to plant 15 billion trees, by 2032, KEPSA Foundation partnered with the Chandaria Foundation, Mama Doing Good, and Global Peace Foundation to establish tree nurseries in schools. Through this partnership, KEPSA Foundation supported three tree nurseries namely; St. Elizabeth Girls Chepkunyuk, Nandi County, Kenyatta High School in Mwatate and Lenana School Nairobi for utilization by the schools and neighbouring communities. The partnership adopted the champions model and identified Mr. John Chumo, School Board Chairman and Ms. Gloria Ndekei, Executive Director, KEPSA Foundation as the Champions for St. Elizabeth. The school has also considered selecting another alumnus to collaborate with in the initiative.
In addition, KEPSA Foundation signed an MOU with Mama Doing Good in 2023 where Environmental conservation was one of the activities identified for collaboration.
She mentioned that KEPSA Foundation had donated seventy (70) avocado seedlings to establish an orchard at St. Elizabeth Girls and encouraged the students and school community to become champions of the nursery and orchard by taking the responsibility of nurturing the fruit trees and contributing to the re-greening of both the school and the community. She further requested the private sector and other stakeholders to partner with the school in offloading the seedlings from the nursery to create space for the growth of more seedlings.
In her remarks, Ms. Sitienei praised the partners for selecting St. Elizabeth Girls to establish the tree nursery and orchard. She highlighted the school’s goal of increasing the nursery’s seedlings from 15,000 to 33,000 by the end of the year. Ms. Sitienei emphasized that the nursery and orchard will cultivate a strong sense of environmental stewardship among the students, creating a ripple effect that will extend to their communities. She also mentioned that both the nursery and orchard will help increase the school’s income while providing an alternative source of nutrition for students and staff.
The chief guest, Hon. Julius Melly praised Chandaria Foundation and other partners for their collective effort in establishing nurseries across various counties. He highlighted that these initiatives will help meet the growing demand for tree seedlings in line with the government’s ambitious plan to plant 15 billion trees and increase tree cover by 30% by 2032. He encouraged the community to embrace tree growing as a viable income-generating activity, which will contribute to boosting the local economy. He also pointed out that tree cultivation, timber production, and processing factories offer significant economic opportunities.
In his remarks, Hon. Benard Kitur conveyed his gratitude to the partners for the ultra-modern nursery, a one-in-a-kind in the constituency. He offered to support the offloading of the tree seedlings through the constituency office to support the tree-growing initiatives in the area. He also underscored the importance of educating the students on the tree growing process which impacts their future livelihood by making them financially independent.
Mr. Arnold Kipchumba shared that MaMa Doing Good is actively involved in the Government’s National Tree Growing Restoration Campaign, which aims to plant and grow 15 billion trees by 2032, with a target of planting 500 million trees by 2032. To achieve this goal, the organization collaborates with women and communities to plant and grow indigenous and fruit trees in schools, with plans to establish 500 Mama Gardens across the country. Additionally, in partnership with the KCB Foundation, they aim to plant 1 million trees in collaboration with schools throughout Kenya.
Dr. John Chumo, representing the school board commended Chandaria Foundation for the great initiative of establishing tree nurseries across the country with two of such nurseries in Nandi County. He noted that the nursery at St. Elizabeth will be very beneficial to the school as it will act as a source of seedlings for the community and the neighbouring schools boosting the school economically as well as regreening the school.
Mr. James Maluki from Mabati Rolling Mills, underscored the efforts by Chandaria Foundation’s commitment in investing in environmental sustainability that aligns with the national tree-growing strategy. He noted that Chandaria Foundation has established 15 tree nurseries with a capacity of 100,000 seedlings annually across the country in collaboration with other partners. Two of the nurseries are in Nandi County, at St. Elizabeth Chepkunyuk and Kapsabet Girls.
The School Environment Club, led by Ms. Caroline Cherwon, mentioned that in addition to the Environment Club, agriculture and wildlife students would also benefit from learning experiences provided by the nursery and orchard. She committed to leading the Environment Club in caring for both the orchard and the nursery and praised all the partners for selecting St. Elizabeth for this initiative.
