Children of a Young Earth Guardians partner school kneel around a garden bed in Siaya County

YOUNG EARTH GUARDIANS · SIAYA COUNTY, KENYA

The next farmers are already in school.

Young Earth Guardians brings regenerative agriculture into schools in Siaya County, so children grow up seeing farming as something that works, pays and heals the soil.

SUPPORT THE NEXT GENERATION HOW IT WORKS ↓

2023

START WITH 180 CHILDREN

PARTNER SCHOOLS BY 2029

1,000

STUDENTS IN THE NEXT PHASE

AFRIKA SALONS IN HAMBURG

WHY IT MATTERS

Who will farm the land tomorrow?

Africa is the youngest continent in the world, yet the people who grow its food are getting older. In Kenya, as in much of the region, the average farmer is around 60 years old.

Many children of farmers do not want to follow their parents onto the land. They grew up seeing farming as exploitation, poverty and hard work that barely pays, while droughts and erratic rains make every season less predictable. At the same time, youth unemployment is high.

If the next generation turns away from farming, every seed system, market and harvest we build together will have no one to carry it.

Young Earth Guardians is our answer. We bring regenerative agriculture to children where they already are: at school.

Three Young Earth Guardians in MOTHERLAND shirts look at their school garden

THE INTERGENERATIONAL LOOP

Children learn. Families change. Farming becomes a future.

Young Earth Guardians closes the circle of the MOTHERLAND ecosystem. Parents show that farming can pay when post-harvest loss is solved and prices are fair. Children bring new knowledge home and carry the land forward.

Children are the future

We give children the tools and the confidence to shape their own future on the land they will inherit.

Learning through play

In school gardens, children learn regenerative practice hands-on: soil health, compost, trees and water, for climate resilience and food on the table.

Change agents at home

What children learn at school travels home. They become the people who bring new practices into their families' farms.

Farming becomes cool

Pride instead of shame. Young Earth Guardians turns farming into something children want to be part of.

↺ AND BACK TO THE FIELDS: A NEW GENERATION OF FARMERS IN A FAIRER SYSTEM

HANDS ON

Soil under the fingernails, ideas in their heads.

Young Earth Guardians happens outside the classroom. Children work with lead farmers from our network, their teachers and our Local Impact Teams, in the gardens of their own schools.

Children prepare a tree nursery bed — **TREE NURSERY**Preparing a nursery bed for young trees

Children take care of the vermicompost with their teacher — **VERMICOMPOST**Caring for the worm compost with their teacher

Children learn vermicompost preparation from lead farmer Joseph — **LEARNING FROM FARMERS**Vermicompost with Joseph, lead farmer

A MOTHERLAND team member shows children how to plant — **PLANTING**Seedlings go into the ground

Preparing a school garden bed — **SCHOOL GARDEN**A school becomes a place that feeds

THREE LEVELS OF CHANGE

From one child to a whole community.

Young Earth Guardians works on three levels at once. For each, we track a clear indicator.

01 · CHILDREN

Skills and values

Children gain practical skills in regenerative agriculture and grow up with environmental awareness and a sense of responsibility for the land.

INDICATOR · NUMBER OF CHILDREN TAKING PART

02 · SCHOOLS

Schools that feed

Schools become regenerative learning centres, with fruit trees, gardens and sustainable practices that provide food and improve the school environment.

INDICATOR · NUMBER OF MEALS

03 · FAMILIES

Knowledge that travels home

Children carry what they learn to their families. Home gardens grow, food security improves, and families depend less on expensive external inputs.

INDICATOR · FARMERS ADOPTING NEW PRACTICES

MILESTONES

From one school garden to a growing movement.

Young Earth Guardians started small and grew with the MOTHERLAND ecosystem in Siaya County.

JUNE 2023
The first Guardians
Start with 180 children at our first partner school. Lead farmer Joseph teaches worm composting and soil health.
APRIL 2024
Partnership with 4K clubs
We join forces with the 4K clubs, Kenya's agricultural clubs in schools. Farmers Shem and Florence start working with the children.
MAY 2024
Two more schools
Young Earth Guardians expands to two additional schools, including Lolwe.
SEPTEMBER 2024
The first tree nursery
Children set up a nursery with 1,700 tree seedlings, including moringa, tamarind and pawpaw.
NEXT
Scaling up
From January 2027: 10 partner schools, 1,000 students and three Afrika Salons in Hamburg.

THE NEXT PHASE · 2027 TO 2029

Ten schools. A thousand Guardians.

From January 2027 to June 2029, Young Earth Guardians grows into a structured programme with 10 partner schools and 1,000 students in Siaya County, delivered by MOTHERLAND CBO in Kenya together with Learning from the Motherland gUG in Hamburg.

10partner schools in Siaya County

1,000students learning regenerative agriculture

10school gardens, one at every partner school

3Afrika Salons in Hamburg

What happens in the next phase:

Every partner school gets its own school garden as a living classroom
Students learn regenerative practice season by season, with lead farmers from our network
Afrika Salons in Hamburg connect the Kenyan schools with audiences in Germany
Step by step, gardens and learning materials are handed over to the teachers, so the work continues without us

Young Earth Guardians gather in their school garden — YOUNG EARTH GUARDIANS · SIAYA COUNTY

PART OF A BIGGER SYSTEM

Young Earth Guardians closes the loop.

It only works because it is connected to everything else MOTHERLAND builds with more than 2,000 farmers in Siaya County.

STARTING POINT

Post-harvest loss

Storage, aggregation and a fixed market price show children that farming can pay.

THE BIG PICTURE

Case for Support

Why we build an ecosystem instead of isolated projects, and what it takes to grow.

EVIDENCE

Impact Report 2025

Validated figures from our work with farmers in Siaya County.

200 FOR MOTHERLAND

Help grow the next generation.

Young Earth Guardians grows out of the whole MOTHERLAND ecosystem. The best way to support it is to join 200 for MOTHERLAND: 200 people giving 50 euros a month, keeping our Local Impact Teams, school gardens and the organization behind them running.

Our goal: all 200 places filled by the end of 2027.

DONATE 50 € A MONTH → PARTNER WITH US →

LEARNING FROM THE MOTHERLAND gUG · TAX DEDUCTIBLE · INSTANT RECEIPT VIA BCAUSE