Safe Water = More Girls in School: The Powerful Connection

When a village in Kilifi or Kwale gets clean water, everything changes for girls. School attendance rises, safety improves, and girls reclaim hours once lost to water collection.

Women on the Kenyan coast are on the frontlines of climate change — and the frontlines of the response. From Mombasa to Kilifi to Kwale, our teams are witnessing a quiet revolution: women planting trees, restoring mangroves, protecting water sources, and building green enterprises that are transforming their communities.

The Challenge She Faces

Climate change is not gender-neutral. Women, who make up the majority of smallholder farmers in Kilifi and Kwale, are seeing crop yields fall as the rains grow unreliable. Women, who walk hours each day to collect water for their families, are seeing those sources turn saline or dry up. Women, who cook over open fires for hours, carry the heaviest burden of indoor air pollution.

How Pure Pearl Is Responding

Our Her Green Future initiative takes a two-pronged approach: reduce the environmental burdens women carry, and unlock their power as environmental leaders.

Over the past three years, we have trained 300+ female eco-champions across the three counties — women who return to their communities as climate educators, tree nursery managers, and conservation advocates. They plant trees, they protect watersheds, and they inspire their neighbours.

The Results

• 50,000 trees and mangrove seedlings planted across Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale
• 12 villages now have access to clean water
• 300 female eco-champions active in their communities
• 85% of planted trees survived after 18 months

The data is clear: when you invest in women as environmental leaders, you get better outcomes for the planet and for people. It is the same model we are now preparing to take north, to the drylands of Garissa, Isiolo and Marsabit, where women carry an even heavier climate burden.