Family Group Foundation, KFS Partner to Restore Ngong Hills Forest

By Maurice Momanyi

The Family Group Foundation has partnered with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to accelerate the restoration of the Ngong Hills Forest Ecosystem through a major tree-growing and conservation initiative.

The partnership has been formalised through a three-year Framework for Collaboration, which will focus on increasing seedling production, supporting tree-growing activities and strengthening community participation in the conservation and restoration of the Ngong Hills landscape.

The initiative will be anchored on the Foundation’s ongoing development of a one-million-tree seedling nursery, aimed at providing the planting materials required to scale up restoration activities across the ecosystem.

The collaboration builds on restoration efforts launched by the Foundation in 2021. So far, the Foundation has invested more than KSh18 million in restoring the landscape, with over 20,000 indigenous tree seedlings planted and approximately 70 acres placed under active restoration.

Family Group Foundation Executive Director John Waimiri said the partnership will help shift conservation efforts from individual tree planting to long-term ecosystem restoration.

“As a Foundation, our target is to scale restoration efforts across the full 240-acre target landscape by 2030,” Waimiri said.

He added that working with KFS would strengthen the initiative by combining the Foundation’s resources with the forest agency’s technical expertise and institutional mandate.

The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry estimates that the Ngong Hills Forest requires approximately one million trees, alongside fencing and geo-mapping interventions, to address degradation and encroachment and restore the ecosystem.

KFS Chief Conservator of Forests Alex Lemarkoko welcomed the partnership, saying collaboration between the government, private sector and communities was critical to achieving sustainable forest restoration.

“Today we mark an important step in advancing forest conservation and landscape restoration. Our focus goes beyond growing trees to also supporting the communities living around these landscapes,” Lemarkoko said.

He said the partnership demonstrates the impact that can be achieved when different stakeholders work together towards a shared environmental and community development agenda.

Under the collaboration, the Foundation and KFS will also build on the KFS Model Tree Nursery blueprint, which is designed to establish high-capacity and standardised nurseries capable of producing large quantities of quality tree seedlings.

The initiative aligns with Kenya’s wider climate action and tree-growing agenda, including the government’s 15-billion-tree programme, while highlighting the role of public-private-community partnerships in accelerating ecosystem restoration.

The Family Group Foundation, established in 2012, is the social and environmental impact subsidiary of Family Bank Limited. Registered under the Companies Act as a company limited by guarantee without share capital, the Foundation implements community-focused initiatives in education, healthcare, agriculture, youth economic empowerment, entrepreneurship development and environmental conservation.

Since its establishment, the Foundation says it has invested more than KSh1 billion in flagship projects across the country, with the aim of empowering families and contributing to inclusive economic and social development.