Green Belt Movement

And currently I'm reading Wangari Madai's book, The Challenge for Africa.

When she started the Green Belt movement by planting trees with women, it was small.

It was a local act because women had the seedlings.

but they didn't label it as Green Belt Movement.

They were just planting seedlings to grow trees.

And that initiative went a long way for them, for the whole team.

So before moving to London, I lived in Kenya for a few years.

And for those who don't know, she created the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, which is effectively supported environmental conservation, predominantly through tree planting and ended up becoming a political champion and an MP in Kenya and fought for what she believed in throughout her entire life.

And the organization was incredibly interesting and it was a decentralized model of supporting smaller farmers to plant trees in their local area and having kind of checks and mechanisms to do so, which I actually see quite a lot of similarity with the decentralized flexibility that we provide at Axel.

And the third is my real ask, if he happens to be listening, it'd be Andy Burnham.

Hmm.

He looks at Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt movement in Kenya.

It is a perfect example of linking systemic thinking to inclusion.

Yes, because she didn't just tell people to plant trees.

And as they shared their knowledge of how tree planting benefited communities, their efforts gained momentum.

Mathai called it the Green Belt Movement.

The movement began as a way to bring much-needed resources to people in rural Kenya.

But Mathai also saw how planting trees reduced deforestation in the area, preserving precious ecosystems.

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The Green Belt movement spread for thousands of women.

It offered income, community, and a way of meeting basic needs.