GIC Expansion Project Technical Committee Conducts First Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Exercise

The expansion project, also known as GIC Phase II, has a total of 120 participating schools, 40 from each of the three participating counties, and is designed as a competition. Each of the 120 participating schools competes to grow and nurture 300 seedlings of the multi-purpose trees of Terminalia brownii or Senna siamea and Melia volkensii at their school plots.

It being a competition, innovations are highly encouraged to ensure the sustainable survival of the young trees. A section of the participating schools have set up drip irrigation systems, and nearly all have introduced mulching at their woodlots. Some participants have used farm yard manure to improve water retention and improve the organic matter content in the soil.

A “Green Teacher” and students at their woodlot, Tyaa Kamuthale Primary School, Kitui County.

The GIC expansion project is designed as a challenge to participating schools, mainly due to the dry weather conditions in the areas, with prizes awarded based on the highest survival rate of seedlings and use of innovation.

The best performing schools stand to benefit from education scholarships, infrastructural developments, water tanks, and rainwater-harvesting and cash awards among others. The “green teachers” are also part of the competition, with the best performer from the three counties winning a trip to Mombasa, a cash prize, and a certificate.

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–Ernest Nyamasyo, Communication Officer