We said, “Rudisha msitu wetu” “Return our forest”

A Pantry, a Pharmacy, a Temple, and a Lifeline for Indigenous communities 

The Mau Forest is the largest indigenous montane forest in East Africa. It is also Kenya’s largest drainage basin and the source of many rivers. For generations, this forest has provided water, food, and a sense of identity to its communities. Among other Indigenous communities, Kenya’s Ogiek and Maasai live the closest to the mighty Mau. The Ogiek community are beekeepers who harvest honey from ancient hives hung in the canopy, making the forest a source of their sustainable income, while the Maasai women are pastoralists dependent on the rivers flowing to sustain their livestock. For both communities, the Mau forest is sacred. 

A study by Egerton University found that between 1984 and 2020, the life-giving Mau Forest lost 25.2% of its cover, with the sharpest decline (24%) between 1995 and 2008. Illegal logging and land encroachment have devastated the Mau Forest, as farmlands and grazing areas have expanded deeper into its ecosystem. Thousands of the region’s families have logged here for income, as well as for firewood for domestic use. 

Reduced rainfall, dried rivers, and biodiversity loss have changed lives. Ogiek honey yields have plunged 60% as flowering trees disappeared; Maasai women trek about 15km daily to find water, and their cattle herds halved. Yet in the fracture, the Paran Women Group, founded in 2005 was created to protect livelihoods and enable the women who are affected the most.

A Sisterhood Rises: Paran Women Group

 “I was born and raised in the Mau Forest, just like my mother and grandmother before me. This land is our home, our identity, and our way of life. We have always lived in harmony with nature, protecting it as it has protected us.”

Naiyan Kiplagat, an Indigenous woman from the Ogiek community, started the Paran Women Group, a collective of Ogiek and Maasai women as a response to the environmental degradation of the Mau Forest. A vibrant network of 64 Indigenous women's civil society organizations has brought together over 3,800+ women and girls in a bold movement to restore 200 hectares of land to date. 

By distributing seedlings to their collective every year, and conducting training on new ways to earn, they contribute to rehabilitating essential ecosystems, ensuring water security whilst protecting their livelihoods.

Image: Paran Women Group training on smart agriculture to increase food production

Innovative Sources of Income

When dependence on the forest costs livelihoods and nature, adaptation becomes necessary. To create sustainable livelihoods and reduce dependence on the forest, the women have embraced innovative solutions. Their work spans food security, energy efficiency, and traditional crafts:

• Kitchen gardens 

• Organic briquette making

• Native species tree planting

• Beadwork and jewelry-making

• Medicinal herb collecting

• Beekeeping

• Energy-saving cooking stoves 

Resilience, Adaptability and Self-Sufficiency

Through resilience and innovation, Paran women have built a movement that empowers both people and nature. Since its creation in 2005, they have restored hundreds of hectares of degraded land, created a culture of social empowerment and economic resilience, and preserved the traditional knowledge of women tending to their native lands.

Economic empowerment
64 Indigenous Women Groups with 3,817 members
5,020 women trained in Smart Agriculture
105 tree nurseries and 500 beehives
1000+ Energy-cooking stoves

Land restoration
100 Acres of degraded land restored between 2023-2024
200,000 trees planted since 2005

Restor x Paran Women Group

Restor helps ensure that the work of Paran Women Group is not only visible but also scalable. Through satellite imagery, we track the forests they revive; through data insights, we support their efforts to optimize restoration; and through our global platform, they access funding and knowledge-sharing opportunities. By bridging technology and community-driven action, Paran Women Group is turning its restoration vision into a lasting impact.

Thank you for reading!