01
Children are the future
We give children the tools and the confidence to shape their own future on the land they will inherit.
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.
2023
START WITH 180 CHILDREN
10
PARTNER SCHOOLS BY 2029
1,000
STUDENTS IN THE NEXT PHASE
3
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.
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.
02
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.
03
Change agents at home
What children learn at school travels home. They become the people who bring new practices into their families' farms.
04
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.
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
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 PICTURECase for Support
Why we build an ecosystem instead of isolated projects, and what it takes to grow.
EVIDENCEImpact 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.
LEARNING FROM THE MOTHERLAND gUG · TAX DEDUCTIBLE · INSTANT RECEIPT VIA BCAUSE