Youth Current Project
Youth Current Project
Youth Current Project
What is this project about?
The Youth Current Project supports youth collectives in Nairobi River Basin catchments to lead restoration and flood-resilience efforts in their localities. By mapping watershed hazards, planning targeted rehabilitation actions, and executing locally driven solutions, these young changemakers actively restore Nairobi River’s Basin ecosystems while fostering community climate resilience and environmental leadership.
Launching in October 2025, the project will unfold across multiple catchment areas within the Nairobi River Basin. Through sustained engagement, youth teams will coordinate implementation, evaluate ecological improvements, and build capacity for continuous, community-led stewardship.
What problem are we solving?
The Nairobi River Basin is heavily polluted by sewage, solid waste, and industrial effluent, degrading habitats, damaging biodiversity, and worsening flood risks for riverside communities . Informal settlements lack proper sanitation, and frequent flooding causes waterborne diseases and loss of livelihood . The Youth Current Project addresses this by empowering local youth to restore river ecosystems, reduce flood vulnerabilities, and co-create healthy, resilient watershed communities. This project takes a system-wide approach that looks at the entire watershed and not just individual streams or arms or the river.
What is our Theory of Change?
If youth are equipped with mapping tools, ecological restoration training, and community leadership support, then they will initiate targeted habitat rehabilitation and flood resilience actions. These efforts will reduce pollution and erosion, improving water quality and ecosystem health. As youth demonstrate successful outcomes, then community buy-in and civic engagement will grow—leading to sustained stewardship, systemic improvements, and long-term river Basin recovery.
What do we hope to achieve?
A cohort of Water Stewards demonstrating a deep understanding of the water cycle, climate resilience and urbanism within their respective catchment areas.
Audio, visual and narrative representations of a targeted community’s water story through various visual and audio media.
A catalogue of water cycle threats and community-level interventions adapted to each catchment area.
A draft Water Action Plan with a series of small scale pilot interventions, supported by community grants, to drive restorative action at the community level.
New knowledge on the effectiveness and impact of implementation of different restorative actions
What are the Key Activities for 2025?
Identifying of key catchment areas within the Nairobi River Basin that will form the targeted areas for this project.
Identifying and onboarding youth within the targeted areas to join the training program for Water Stewardship
Developing a catalogue or risks and community level restorative actions adapted to each catchment area
Developing an action plan for 2026.
What is the project timeline?
2025: Launch, and project planning and onboarding of CBO partners
2025: Running of the Urban Water Stewardship Program
Want to Get Involved? We are seeking collaborations with:
If you're passionate about youth and climate action, we could use your help in supporting:
Training of youth about the water cycles at different watersheds
Validating the technical viability and effectiveness of proposed restorative community actions prior to implementation
Evaluation of the effectiveness and impacts of both the training and the technical solutions implemented under the project
Partner with us. Contribute your expertise. Champion inclusive cities. we want to hear from you.