RiverEdge combats catastrophic flooding along Tanzania’s Ngerengere River by restoring 2,500m of riparian buffer using native live fascines and brush mattresses, reducing erosion by 40%. Our key innovation bridges Indigenous Maasai ecological knowledge with fluvial science under strict FPIC protocols. The project trains and certifies 230 young Maasai women as Ecological Restoration Technicians, securing community data sovereignty while protecting 540 smallholder farmers from climate shocks.
What made you want to be engaged in the fight against climate change?
Growing up witnessing climate impacts in Tanzania, I saw catastrophic flooding along the Ngerengere River wash away farmlands and devastate families. I realized that while young Indigenous women are the primary land stewards managing household food security, top-down flood projects systematically exclude them from technical decisions. Experiencing the severe 2024 flood shocks made me determined to act. I wanted to prove that our customary Maasai knowledge, combined with ecological engineering, holds the key to protecting vulnerable communities from climate disasters.
What motivates/inspires you?
I am deeply inspired by the resilience of young Indigenous women. When given access to technical training and ownership over their knowledge, they transform from victims of climate shocks into certified leaders driving local solutions. Seeing a degraded, eroding riverbank stabilized by native live fascines planted by Maasai women proves that community-led nature-based solutions work. Protecting the livelihoods of 540 vulnerable smallholder farmers and building lasting climate resilience for future generations is what fuels my daily commitment.
What advice do you have for the youth that want to be involved with climate action?
My advice to young leaders is to root your climate action in your local community’s lived reality. Do not wait for permission or overly complex technologies; value traditional knowledge and local ecosystems as powerful tools for climate adaptation. Focus on building tangible, measurable solutions that solve real community problems. Collaboration, empathy, and data-driven proof are essential. Most importantly, ensure you bring the most marginalized voices to the decision table—real climate resilience starts from the grassroots up.
Which type of organisation would be most valuable for you to connect with during the event and why?
We are keen to connect with.
Governmental and Multilateral Institutions: To integrate our community-led green infrastructure models into national adaptation policies and spatial planning.
Research Centres and Universities: To partner on advanced fluvial bioengineering research, scaling our vegetative transect and soil erosion monitoring protocols.
Climate Adaptation Funds and Conservation Partners: To secure co-financing and replicate the RiverEdge model across adjacent vulnerable basins like the Ruvu, Wami, and Great Ruaha river systems.At the same time, I would like to connect with companies in the construction sector to explore large-scale production and application, and with government institutions to understand how this solution could contribute to resilient housing programmes.
Are there any topics you would especially like to speak about?
Bridging Indigenous Knowledge and Fluvial Science: How fusing traditional Maasai land stewardship with nature-based bioengineering creates highly effective, low-cost flood defenses.
Gender-Transformative Climate Action: Moving young Indigenous women from being viewed as passive victims of climate shocks into certified technical leaders and environmental defenders.
Data Sovereignty and FPIC in Climate Adaptation: The importance of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent and community-owned data registers in ensuring grassroots ownership.
Nature-Based Architecture vs. Concrete: Why living green infrastructure (like live fascines) outperforms expensive top-down grey infrastructure in vulnerable East African river basins.
What is the most interesting story behind your project that you think people should hear?
For years, catastrophic floods along the Ngerengere River destroyed crops and displaced families, while conventional disaster responses relied on expensive, top-down concrete infrastructure that completely bypassed local communities. The most powerful story behind RiverEdge is the radical transformation of young Maasai women. Despite managing the majority of household food resources and possessing deep ancestral understanding of our land, these women were historically excluded from technical flood planning.
Through RiverEdge, we are breaking that barrier. By combining their customary ecological wisdom with formal bioengineering, these young women are becoming certified Ecological Restoration Technicians who physically rebuild and protect their own homelands. When a young Maasai woman installs living vegetative buffers that stop riverbank collapse and save her community’s farmlands, it redefines what climate leadership looks like proving that true innovation is rooted in local empowerment, indigenous knowledge, and community trust.