Grantee Highlight
An Indigenous Community’s Connection to Land
Image credit: Victoria Uwemedio/Agroecology Fund
In 2024, Global Greengrants made 788 grants in 85 countries totaling $8.83M to support Indigenous rights, including supporting Indigenous Peoples to protect their land rights, preserve traditional knowledge systems, and resist extractive mining in critical ecosystems.
“For the Ogiek people, land is everything. Land is about food. It’s about shelter. It’s about medicine. It’s about religion. It’s about having connectivity with their ancestors. It’s everything.”
– Daniel Kobei, Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP)
When Indigenous and local communities have a say in the health of their food, water, and resources, powerful change is possible. Since 2002, Global Greengrants advisory boards and partners like the Agroecology Fund have proudly supported the Ogiek people in Kenya. The Ogiek people have lived in Kenya’s Mau Forest for thousands of years, farming the land sustainably and raising livestock. While the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights ruled in 2017 and 2022 that the Ogiek have the right to their land, implementation of these rulings has not happened, leaving the community vulnerable to forced evictions, deforestation, and commercial interests, including logging, large-scale farming, and government-led conservation efforts that often exclude Indigenous participation.
Image credit: Victoria Uwemedio/Agroecology Fund
With our support, Ogiek Rural Integral Projects, Program for the Heritage of Ogiek and Mother Earth, and Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP), work to raise public awareness about the Ogiek struggle for land rights, to educate communities about climate change, and to support the Ogiek’s traditional food systems. These efforts strengthen the Ogiek’s sacred connection to their land and increase resilience in the face of climate and socioeconomic uncertainty.
This year, Global Greengrants supported OPDP to provide humanitarian assistance, restore access to education for Ogiek children, and advocate for Indigenous land rights. This funding was especially critical in response to the forced evictions of the Ogiek community in Sasimwani within the Maasai Mau in late 2023, which left more than 700 families displaced and struggling to meet their basic needs. With the grant, OPDP:
- Implemented urgent relief efforts by providing food and temporary shelter materials for those displaced, providing critical support during long-term solutions planning.
- Covered school fees for over 50 displaced children whose families needed to use their money to cover emergency costs.
- Strengthened Indigenous advocacy efforts by documenting land injustices claims, training the council of elders on their rights, and engaging with local and international stakeholders to push for lasting solutions that uphold the Ogiek’s rights to their ancestral lands.
- Invested in improved security measures, including upgrading physical security infrastructure and enhancing surveillance for office security.
By meeting emerging needs of the Sasimwani community and setting up critical movement infrastructure, OPDP supported—and continues to support—the community to safeguard rights and build resilience in the face of acute crises and long-term challenges.
Support of OPDP and other Indigenous Peoples around the world is critical to securing and preserving the livelihoods of Indigenous communities, and to ensuring healthy connection to land and ecosystems required for a just, resilient future for all.