COMMUNITY
Mukutan is situated at a junction where six distinct ethnic communities intersect. Each of these communities derive their livelihoods from the land, albeit in different ways, which means we all rely on our shared eco-system for sustenance and livelihood. Basic human needs must be fulfilled in our neighbouring communities to build peace and resilience and for conservation principles to hold meaning. Many of our neighbours live in isolated regions and suffer the trials of marginalised communities, with poor access to healthcare, schooling and income generating opportunity. We ensure that the conservancy serves as an economic anchor and incubator for the region wherever possible.
There have been sporadic cycles of ethnic unrest in the area, most of which derive from competition over resources or political incitement, and the Conservancy supports several projects which enhance the cultural fabric of the area and promote peace. Through empowerment and education we aim to create a harmony between people and place, ensuring that those we live alongside derive a direct benefit from our conservation efforts and nurturing a culture of environmental stewardship.
THE MSHIPI COMMUNITY COMMITTEE
We communicate and collaborate with our community through a formal network, known as the Mshipi (meaning belt in Swahili), of community-elected representatives from over 30 villages near our boundary. Sitting squarely between the worlds of pastoralist and agricultural Kenya, the Mshipi Initiative provides insight and opportunity to support a relationship that is critical to the country’s future. Through committees of elders, women and youth leaders, we closely deliberate matters concerning the conservancy as they relate to community enterprise, employment, education, and development in our region, building a shared vision across the diverse perspectives and needs of our neighbours. The Mshipi - our community committee, represents 120, 000 people.
MUKUTAN
WILDERNESS
EDUCATION
CENTRE
We believe effective experiential education is the thread that connects the needs of diverse individuals and communities to their landscape — providing a common orientation towards the mutual thriving of humans and the earth. Education is the glue that coheres our projects in biodiversity conservation, community development, and peace and reconciliation.
The renascent Mukutan Wilderness Education Centre is the cornerstone of our visionary model of conservation. After serving tens of thousands of students from across Laikipia and the globe for many years, the MWEC has recently been re-imagined as an even more expansive initiative, pioneering into wilderness expeditions and specifically focusing on integrating pastoralist youth through peacebuilding curriculum and outdoor adventure. Grounded in the experiential model of leadership and collaboration, it provides students with exceptional scientific curriculum, immersive wilderness experience, and the space for spiritual reflection in a transformative environment.
You cannot love and protect what you do not know — and many Kenyan students have never experienced the compelling biodiversity of their own country. By partnering with public, private, and international school systems, we are making the unparalleled landscape and wildlife of Kenya accessible and indispensable to any student.
Located in an area bordering the Conservancy, that only a few years ago was torn apart by ethnic and politically based violence and then abandoned, Land of Hope is now a vibrant eco-friendly community centre where women, children and youth from different ethnicities come together. Land of Hope gives women and youth employment training and enhances resilience and livelihoods through the provision of basic health and educational services.
In 2021, Land of Hope opened a pre-school in partnership with KidSpire and Karibu Centre. The pre-school educates 70 children from local pastoralist communities, who have historically been marginalised and frequently in conflict with each other. The children receive exemplary early childhood education, healthy meals, and a critical jumpstart to their verbal, numeric, and digital literacy that will set them up for success throughout their education. Land of Hope employs parents of the enrolled students as assistant teachers, guards, and cooks to integrate the community into the project and support their commitment to their children's education.
LAND OF HOPE
SCHOLARSHIPS
Mukutan has over the years sponsored hundreds of local students to achieve secondary, undergraduate, graduate and even PhD levels of education. We believe inspiring young people from our landscape towards their best careers, supports conservation by integrating communities more deeply into the mission, economy, and research so critical to the coexistence of humans and wild spaces. We believe investment in education, particularly the education of women and girls, is one of the most essential and transformative strategies for holistic development in under-resourced communities.
Many of these students have since become important advocates and professionals in the fields of wildlife conservation, ethnobotany, applied sciences, development, and government.
HEALTH
Mukutan Conservancy has a long history of providing healthcare support to thousands of members of the local community as part of our overarching strategy of supporting the well-being of the community through our conservation objectives.
In 2005, Mukutan Conservancy built and equipped an operating theatre and maternity ward in Ol Moran town which has provided over 2,000 free medical operations with volunteer surgeons. With the support of the US-based Paul Chester Children’s Hope Foundation, the solar-powered clinic was established to provide life-changing operations previously inaccessible in the region, including tumour removal and skin grafts. World-class general surgeons, ENTs, anesthesiologists, and nurses make annual visits to Ol Moran.
In 2016, we built a medical dispensary and diagnostic centre in the local community of Mbogoini, which has distributed 150 hearing aids to children. In 2018 a dental clinic was added, alongside a large donation of state-of-the-art medical equipment, including doppler ultrasound monitors.
Mukutan is also in partnership with the Paul Chester Children’s Hope Foundation and county health services to distribute mobile health clinics that will provide a variety of medical services. These include COVID and diagnostic tests, screenings, and treatment for various ailments. These mobile clinics, designed to fit into shipping containers, provide access to medical support to remote, rural communities.
In the interest of increasing climate resilience, and ensuring a consistent water supply to the area, Mukutan built five dams and three boreholes in community areas. This has provided hundreds number of people access to free water in times of drought; all of the boreholes remain in regular use. Mukutan Conservancy has also long partnered with the Red Cross to provide crucial supplies (including meals, materials, firewood, and water) to communities during periods of drought.
CULTURE
Cultural practices, knowledge and traditions interplay vividly with landscape and perspectives, fuelling our creative resources and informing our visions for the future. The rich diversity of cultures in our neighbourhood is a large part of what makes Mukutan unique. We celebrate diversity whilst finding the thread that unites us all.
The ‘ethnosphere’ is as diverse a resource as the biosphere yet it is often overlooked. Defined as “the sum total of all thoughts and intuitions, myths and beliefs, ideas and inspirations brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness,” the ethnosphere is humanity's greatest legacy." - Wade Davis
Laikipia Highland Games
Sports as a means to promote peace dates back to the 8th century BC with the ancient Olympic Games and has been recognised by the United Nations as a powerful tool to promote reconciliation. The Laikipia Highland Games, born in October 2008 following unprecedented post election violence in Kenya, is an annual sporting initiative aimed to harness the fundamental values of sport to foster goodwill, build relationships, bridge divisions, and harness the natural competitive spirit of youth. We want to showcase the potential of Kenya’s highland athletes whilst encouraging diverse communities to engage in peaceful competition. The Mukutan Conservancy partners with the Kenyan Olympic Committee to create this event and to tap into Kenyan sporting talent every year.
The games are an unusual and exciting combination of modern athletics and colourful traditional tribal games. Over 3,000 participants converge in Mukutan Conservancy in their full tribal finery to celebrate Peace Day every year.
Pokot Acrobatics
In 2010, following a period of ethnic violence and drought, we gathered a group of 40 youths who had all been involved in violence, crime and poaching. Long conversations revealed that many lacked a purpose in life so poaching and cattle rustling had come to be seen as entertainment, and a way to get recognition.
We gave them an alternative through acrobatics and performance which they combined with their breath-taking song and dance and story-telling. Now these young men have travelled far and wide with their performance and have become heroes, mentors and trainers for the youth in the area, advocating peace and educating their peers against poaching. The acrobatics has taught them vital life skills, discipline and team-work and they have become employable.
4 Generations Project
The 4 Generations Project is a global program that was founded at Mukutan Conservancy in 2003 to staunch the loss of cultural diversity and knowledge by encouraging young people to seek it and live it for themselves. The Project provided a template for local students to explore their heritage and identity, whilst facilitating debates and discussions and creating art which communicated their findings on this voyage of self-exploration, encouraging interest and debate in the entire community and promoting cross cultural communication and understanding amongst different ethnic groups.
As part of the project, students would locate elders and wisdom keepers within their communities and undertake in-depth interviews with them to record their knowledge. Through this process, the 4 Generations team made deep and lasting bonds with the community on the ground, taking the time to truly listen and understand how the culture works, what challenges people face, what people feel are the greatest priorities in their communities.