APEO joins hands with others in cleaning and greening the Garissa County
The Africa Pastoralists Empowerment Organization (APEO) participated in commemorating the PBO – Public Benefits Organizations (stands for NGOs and CSOs) week (13-18 April, 2026) in Garissa County. The purpose was to bring together the PBO sector for networking, learning, and collaboration as part of the transition of the NGOs into PBOs. Key activities included presentations of sector reports, exhibitions, and aligning the NGOs and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) with the PBO Act 2013.
Key highlights of the 3 -day event included activities that promote care for the environment that we live and depend for our sustenance. They included community awareness creation, garbage collection and cleaning the drainage system of the town, and tree planting. APEO contributed actively to all activities, and most importantly, the tree planting activity where it accessed and supported the planting of over 1000 tree seedlings in various location. It followed up this with more planting (over 250 seedlings) on farms, schools and communities in the Lagdera sub-county of Garissa. We are grateful to the support of the Forest Department that provided most of the seedlings.
At Maalimin center (120 km from Garissa town), the headmaster of the local primary school had this to say on the seedlings provided – ‘this tree was one among many APEO provided in 2024. Now is a big tree that soon will provide the students with shade. And we are ready to plant more’. At Afweyne (100 km from Garissa), Ms. Amina said – ‘we love planting trees (you can even see this through the action of our children), although our land is very hard. But don’t get suppliers. We thank APEO for coming forth’.
APEO places environmental conservation high on its community development agenda. This will always be done through active partnership with the community, county and national government institutions, and the civil society organizations. This exercise would certainly benefit from the support of the development and donor community.
