Located just 10 Kilometres from Amboseli National Park lives a community that has for a while now enjoyed the sweet benefits of arable land and access to water resources. The 20 members of Namelok Osoit Illaramatak Self Help Group are proud agriculturalists that have exploited the group structure to support one another in terms of access to funding and strengthening their ability to lobby.

The group has managed to organize adult education classes which are accessible not only to the group members but the rest of the community. Human wildlife conflict continues to be a great hindrance to the group’s agricultural activities, a challenge that has continued to strengthen the group ties as they collaborate to address the problem. Matonyok has been instrumental to the group’s activities by contributing to the wealth of the group and offering insights on civic education.

Registered in 2011 and consisting of 20 members, Elerai Youth Football Club is taking on the front row in the walk towards development in Loitoktok Sub County. Its members are young men (Morans) living within the Elerai Conservancy community. The group usually travel 5km to the neighbouring primary school to practice their skills in preparation for their games. The team quickly realised that their collaboration could be utilised to help the community and better themselves financially. Since then, the team has diversified to work on several key development issues in the area.

The group is now involved in rain fed agriculture, buying and selling livestock, environmental management, conservation awareness, afforestation, education sponsorship for local children and selling traditional Maasai beadwork.

The group have highlighted the following challenges within the area: - Transportation issues due to poor roads, making the delivery of their produce difficult and only accessible by motorcycle

- Finding consistent ready markets for beadwork and marketing jewellery to target consumers. They currently rotate selling beadwork at daily markets in Loitoktok and Kimana
- Water scarcity as they currently fetch water from the local borehole for subsistence only. They also struggle to practice agriculture during dry season as they depend on rain fed agriculture

- Funding for the facilitation of the club, for example uniforms, balls, boots and field markings
-Human/wildlife conflict and the destruction of livelihoods due to intrusion of elephants, giraffes and monkeys.

The group was established in 2013 as a women’s group and now has 15 members. It started as a “merry-go-round” system where by members would contribute cups, plates and spoons to each household meeting. Their main activity is beadwork, whereby they buy shukas and beads and design unique dresses to sell to nearby markets in Kimana and Rombo. As an additional activity, the group practices farming and livestock keeping and currently own two goats. They have a table banking system which each member contributes 100 shillings to a treasurer for saving purposes. The group have expressed some major challenges to their livelihoods:

A significant lack of reliable and consistent markets for their beadwork. They make dresses in bulk but only manage to sell one every so often. Lacking in capital to expand on their farmland and to buy more cows and goats for fattening. The need for diversification in crops due to a section of their land becoming swamp like in rainy season.

Once a week, members of Esoit Pus Self Help Group join hands with communities living along the Nolturesh River to advocate for their right to access water, a commodity that is so central to the livelihoods of its members. Advocacy is just one of the tools that this group of 20 Maasai men use to ensure equitable access to sustainable livelihood. Living in Lang’ata Enkima the members have been forced to adjust their approach to financial gain following the diversion of water from Nolturesh River that used to support members’ agricultural activities. The group currently, fattens and resells goats and bulls to earn income to support their lifestyles. Few of its members still practice agriculture but constantly encounter water shortage and invasion of elephants into their farms. Matonyok continues to fulfil its mission by supporting various works of advocacy and assisting them with information on livestock rearing and agriculture.. Go to support us page to donate.

The Ilmejooli Women Welfare Association is a constant reminder in Kajiado County of the role women can and do play in development. Consisting of 16 members, the group has taken the mantle of agriculture in Entonet region. It was registered in 2007 and has since enabled its members improve their lifestyles tremendously by providing a platform to access funding through table banking, adult education and knowledge on how to vary sources of income. All the 16 members have earned a certificate of proficiency in adult education, empowering them more to engage actively and knowingly in different economic ventures and general regional development.

The group grapples with challenges such as lack of markets for their farm produce and bead jewelry, and lack of finances to fuel its activities. Matonyok has been strategic since 2011 in encouraging the group’s existence.

Elerai Self Help group was established in 2009 following a drastic nationwide drought. The implications for the pastoralist members of Elerai were devastating, killing 90% of livestock. The group consists of 30 members and largely practice rain fed agriculture, producing corn, maize, potatoes and beans. The group also fatten and sell livestock, the proceeds of which are collected in a table banking structure to finance different aspects of their everyday living such as providing children's school fees. Seven children are currently in education from the support of Elerai Self Help group.

​The group have highlighted the following challenges in their area:
​- Human/wildlife conflict with the need to protect crops and homesteads from intruding elephants, lions and monkeys
​- Transportation issues due to poor roads, making the delivery of produce difficult and only accessible by motorcycle
​- High illiteracy rates among members, leading to a weak business structure and limited communication opportunities
​- Water scarcity as the group is reliant on rain fed agriculture and struggle to cultivate produce in the dry season
​- Finding consistent, ready markets for their traditional Maasai beadwork to earn additional income
​- Diversifying their beadwork market and producing creative goods to sell to alternative consumers such as hotels, not only tourists.

Oloshaiki Women's group started in 2005 and currently has 21 members. The group is chaired by Jonah who is also the chair of the group ranch in Olandi. The group started with each member contributing 10 shillings and later increased to 100 shillings. With this money, the group bought one cow and one goat for fattening. They also engaged in table banking where a “merry-go-round” system was practiced. With the money contributed and from the selling of livestock, they help each other by buying utensils, clothes, building houses and wedding gifts.

Later in the years, they had a total of five cattle but lost three of them in 2009 resulting from a prolonged drought. Currently the group has twelve cattle and upon selling, the profit is shared among the members to see the value of the group.

The group promotes education, livestock keeping and farming. They did however express some challenges:
Water scarcity is a major issue for this group as they currently pay for their domestic water use on a meter. Their dream is to have access to a borehole which would facilitate irrigation for farming.

High illiteracy rates among adults and discontinuation of education for children due to lack of funds for school fees. They wish to create a platform for schooling sponsorship, operate a bursary program and also run some basic adult education seminars. They hope that this will raise the importance of education within the community.
The group lacks a stable saving system and currently relies on investment in livestock. With more information, the group hopes to establish an official banking system and access funds or loans through the bank.

This self help group was formed three years ago and currently has forty members. Their livelihoods revolve around agro and pastoral agriculture. This involves cattle fattening and crop farming on their seven acres of land. They farm tomatoes and onions which are sold to local markets in Mombasa and Nairobi. The profits they reinvest into buying cattle and goats for fattening.

The main challenges the group highlighted;

-They have whole areas of farmland that are not cultivated since the group can only farm for one season as during the rainy season the area becomes swampy. Therefore there is a need to diversify to growing crops that can thrive in swampy environments.

-They need capital to increase their livestock and expand the

ir abilities to profit from cow fattening.-The group requires financial advocacy, as currently “The profit is in the cow, not the banks”. But they wish to move forward into banking to enable greater access to vital loans.

Olorika is one of the most arable lands in Loitoktok Sub County. Located roughly 17 Kilometres from Kimana Business Centre is a 13 members group of Maasai men and women that engage in livestock rearing to earn income.

Tabolu Enkong’u Tadua Ewang’an Ang (TETEA) uses its influence in the community to advocate for social amenities in the area. The group works with community members to ensure smooth running of the Olorika Primary School and the one dispensary in the area. With the help of Matonyok, TETEA has managed to get support for the construction of a borehole that will benefit the primary school and the rest of the community.

Olorika is located along the Nolturesh River bank and the group joins with other communities stretched out along the river to advocate for the release of the water into the river for domestic use.

Formed in 2013, the Nadupa Amboseli Self Help Group consists of fifteen members. The women's main activity is traditional Maasai bead work, which they sell to passing tourists visiting Amboseli National Park. The income generated is then split between the group to be spent on children’s school fees and other communal needs.

Some of the main challenges faced by Osiligi Self Help Group include: A lack of regular, consistent ready markets for their bead work. This has been accentuated by the reduction in numbers of tourists visiting the area in recent years. The rural location also means they lack a town market to sell to and transportation of bead work is difficult Lack of education with all members currently illiterate, thus lacking knowledge on proper marketing and banking methods
The area suffers from severe drought, therefore cattle and goat farming is not always an option of income for these women.

Kaliet group initially formed as a group of friends, all of whom wished to better themselves financially. The meaning of Kaliet is peace. They created the women's group in 2014 with a "merry-go-round" banking system in which each member contributed ksh1500 each month. The group currently has 12 members and invests their contributions into chicken rearing. Each member started with one chicken which was then sold and bought 'layer' chickens for their eggs. They now have 230 chickens and plan to expand further. The group also hope to operate an outdoor catering facility for large events such as weddings and have begun purchasing large sufuria and thermos flasks. With the group savings, Kaliet's plans to buying tents and seeds to improve their farm.

​The group has highlighted some challenges which Matonyok hopes to support:
​- Inadequate space for livestock keeping and lack of a permanent site to operate the groups projects
​- Renovation of the chicken shed to a larger, more practical enclosure
​- Funding to invest in pig farming to increase income for members

The group's future vision is to buy land in the next few years so that they can have a permanent area to operate their projects, have on office for catering purposes, increase the number of chickens in order to supply hotels and lodges within Amboseli and Kilimanjaro and also invest on either dairy farming or pig rearing.

The women’s group of Ilmejooli began with a small table banking structure to support its members. Initially each group member contributed ksh50, gradually increasing to ksh70 and this year reaching ksh100. This enabled the group to invest in an acre of farmland. After cultivating and selling the produce they have been able to expand to two acres, the proceeds of which go toward sponsoring their children’s school fees.

The group realises the value of the land and hopes to increase their farmland as well as diversifying into goat and chicken rearing and establishing a vegetable garden.
The women highlighted several key challenges impacting their community/group:
-Water scarcity in the region prevents a reliable source of water for both domestic and commercial use. They are hoping for water storage facilities, funding for the water supplier and innovative irrigation methods to overcome this.
-The requirement of funding for an adult education teacher, as only some members are literate and have qualifications.
- They wish to establish their own vegetable garden with an official plan and seasonal rotation of crops, as currently they are reliant on sourcing their greens from Tanzania.
- They require ready markets to promote and sell their beadwork resulting in an additional source of income.

This group was formed in the year 2007 and currently consists of 240 members. Based in one of the most arid parts of Kenya, Kajiado, this group’s major challenge is water scarcity both for domestic use and agricultural use. However, a number of well-wishers and government organisations have stepped in to make life liveable for this group and the surrounding community at large. With the help from Water for Life, Water For All, and Kenya Airways they were able to raise funds for digging a bore hole where they now get their water.

They also worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service on a 50/50 contribution to dig a water pan that helps them harvest water during the rainy season to feed their animals, among other uses. Also, they worked with ‘Gazelle’ a French Organisation, to build a classroom that is used by children from the locality for learning purposes.
As a way of income generation, the members of this group keep beehives and sell the harvested honey at a market in Kimana, a nearby town. Some of this group’s needs were identified to be;
Need for Storage Tanks to effect proper distribution of water among the 240 members
A solar water pumping machine to pump water from the borehole which seems more sustainable as opposed to using petrol driven generators.

Ewang'an Self Help Group is probably one of the most organized pastoralists' group in the Amboseli eco-system. Ewang'an is a Maasai name that means "light" and to this group of 25 members, the light never stops shinning for them. After the devastating 2009 nationwide drought that wiped almost 75% of their livestock, the group came together to seek alternative sources of income. The group has specialized in the art of jewelry making using the iconic Maasai beads. The group is composed of community members living in Ola City Cultural Boma, a tourist attraction manyatta located few metres from Amboseli National Park.

This group of 15 members was started in 2014 with the aim of pooling together their resources and strength to better their financial wellbeing. Among the activities that the group engage in, includes buying cows, fattening them and later selling them at higher prices as a way of income creation.

The women in the group also practice beadwork but only get to sell their products in the local markets to which they are constrained by a number of factors including lack of knowledge on the existence of large market platforms and limited financial capability as well. The members have also tried contributing Ksh 5,000 each to practice Crop farming only to be disappointed by the consistent loss of their investment to ‘ambiguous’ crop diseases which saw them lose their tomatoes produce two seasons in a row. Accessing finances in terms of loans has proven to be a futile trial as well for this group since they have had Ksh 400,000 embezzled from them by a local scam SACCO in a case which is still on going in the law court.

Besides all these challenges, it is inspiring to see these 15 strong willed spirits continue to soldier on hoping for better days when they will see their dream of eradicating poverty among themselves realised.

Engumi Self-help group is located at Namelok Engumi area.

Since it's establishment from 2020 Engumi self-help group has been planting trees around the area.