Seed Projects Awardees 2025
The 2025 GDF seed grant-supported projects have been awarded to 5 GEN members and represent locally grounded responses to urgent conservation and cultural challenges across Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Samoa. Though rooted in distinct landscapes and traditions, each initiative reflects the same core principle: lasting change is driven by communities themselves. From protecting endangered species and restoring critical ecosystems to safeguarding Indigenous knowledge and empowering youth leadership, these projects address issues of both local and global significance. By investing in early-stage ideas with strong community ownership, the seed grants support approaches that strengthen resilience, foster stewardship, and lay the groundwork for long-term environmental and cultural sustainability.
Strenghthening Youth-Led Conservation through Conservation Education in Nyeri County, Kenya
By Wangechi Kiongo – EcoPhilia – Kenya
As climate change increasingly reshapes landscapes once considered stable, this project responds to a growing gap in conservation education among young people in Nyeri County, Kenya. Building on experience from similar work in more climate-vulnerable regions, this project adapts a proven conservation education model to Nyeri’s unique environmental context. The program engages school-going and out-of-school youth through interactive learning sessions, eco-clubs, climate-focused workshops, and youth-led community action projects.
By combining classroom learning with films, games, field visits, and practical environment and conservation activities, the project strengthens environmental literacy and confidence. Youth are supported to understand ecosystems, biodiversity, and climate change while developing leadership skills and a sense of responsibility for their local environment. By centring youth as active participants rather than passive learners, the project nurtures a generation equipped to engage with conservation challenges and contribute meaningfully to the future of their communities and ecosystems.
Preserving Biodiversity and Culture of the Ogiek Community
By Samson Luari – Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program – Kenya
For the Ogiek people, culture, identity, and the forest are deeply intertwined. This project supports the preservation of traditional knowledge and biodiversity within the Mau Forest by revitalising cultural spaces and strengthening intergenerational learning. Central to the initiative is the restoration of the Ogiek Cultural Museum as a living repository of heritage, showcasing traditional artefacts alongside oral histories, music, art, and storytelling curated with community elders.
Complementing the museum is the establishment of a herbal garden conserving over 1,000 indigenous medicinal plants, serving both as a learning space and a centre for traditional healing knowledge. A mentorship program pairs Ogiek youth with experienced herbalists, passing on skills in plant identification, sustainable harvesting, and conservation ethics. Through these interconnected efforts, the project safeguards cultural memory while empowering the Ogiek community to sustain their traditions, knowledge systems, and relationship with the forest into the future.
Strengthening Community Conservation in Samoa through Integrated learning and Capacity Development
By Moeumu Uili – Samoa Conservation Society – Samoa
This project places communities at the heart of conservation efforts in Samoa, focusing on Uafato, Aopo, and Falealupo, key sites for protecting the endangered Manumea, the country’s national bird. Through hands-on learning and participatory approaches, the initiative strengthens local capacity to manage biodiversity loss, restore native forests, and plan for sustainable land use. A central feature is the creation of a Participatory Three-Dimensional (P3D) model, a community-built mapping tool that brings together local knowledge, spatial planning, and inclusive dialogue. Elders, youth, and community members use the model to identify important habitats, land boundaries, and conservation priorities, creating space for shared decision-making and intergenerational learning.
Alongside mapping, the project supports the collection, propagation, and replanting of rare native plant species, reinforcing ecosystem health while contributing to forest restoration and sustainable livelihoods. Community awareness activities, delivered through schools, village meetings, and workshops, strengthen understanding of the Manumea’s decline and the role communities play in protecting their natural heritage. By blending traditional knowledge with practical conservation tools, this project builds local leadership, resilience, and long-term stewardship of Samoa’s forests.
Preserving Maasai Spiritual Land Management Knowledge and Practices in Northern Tanzania
By Yannick Ndoinyo – Traditional Ecosystems Survival Tanzania (TEST) – Tanzania
This project supports the preservation of Maasai cultural heritage by documenting land management practices, rituals, and rites of passage that have sustained both ecosystems and communities for generations in northern Tanzania. Through a collaboratively produced short documentary, Maasai elders, women, youth, and traditional leaders from three distinct groups share stories, knowledge, and demonstrations of cultural practices tied to land stewardship and spiritual life.
The film is paired with an accessible education guide designed to encourage discussion and learning in schools, youth programs, and community spaces. By recording and sharing this knowledge, the project strengthens cultural identity, supports intergenerational knowledge transfer, and affirms indigenous conservation practices that foster ecological balance and climate resilience. Translated into multiple languages and shared through community screenings and digital platforms, the documentary creates space for both local pride and global understanding of Maasai land management traditions.
Participatory Mapping of Community-driven Conservation Solutions to Tiko Mangrove Depletion, South West Cameroon
By Ndimuh Bertrand Shancho – Voice of Nature – Cameroon
Located along the Atlantic coast at the foot of Mount Cameroon, the Tiko Mangrove is a vital ecosystem facing rapid decline. This project responds by shifting conservation from top-down approaches to community-led solutions rooted in local knowledge and lived experience. Through training, consultation, and participatory storytelling, this project supports communities to better understand the impacts of mangrove loss on livelihoods, flooding, and climate resilience.
Local youth are engaged in reviewing existing research, while traditional authorities and local government are involved through consultative meetings that build trust and shared ownership. A community workshop brings these insights together, creating space to collectively map conservation challenges and co-design solutions. The outcome is a locally developed action plan, the Tiko Mangrove Community Conservation Solutions Manual, produced by and for the community. By centring community voices in conservation planning, the project strengthens long-term commitment, fosters a sense of ownership, and lays the groundwork for sustainable protection of the Tiko Mangrove ecosystem.
