GIC Schools’ Set to Benefit from Infrastructure Projects
The cracked classroom walls, missing laboratories and unreliable water systems that have long defined learning in parts of Embu and Machakos may soon give way to safer, greener and more functional school environments. Following a late-November site inspection, the KenGen Foundation has identified priority infrastructure projects for six schools participating in the Green Initiative Challenge, a flagship programme that links environmental conservation with education in Kenya’s semi-arid regions.
Launched to green dry lands through school-based woodlots, the Green Initiative Challenge has evolved into a broader intervention that recognises the link between environmental stewardship and learning conditions. The latest assessment, conducted between November 23 and 27, 2025, focused on identifying critical infrastructure gaps in top-performing schools under Phases VI and VII, with the aim of directing targeted investments of up to KSh2.5 million per school to areas of greatest need.
“The condition of learning infrastructure directly affects both educational outcomes and the sustainability of our environmental investments,” said Ms. Dorcas Arama, senior accountant at the KenGen Foundation and a member of the assessment team. She noted that while schools have demonstrated strong commitment to tree growing and conservation, many are constrained by unsafe classrooms, inadequate sanitation and a lack of basic facilities such as laboratories and administration blocks.
In total, six schools across Embu and Machakos counties were assessed, revealing needs ranging from the construction of a science laboratory, library and dining hall at DEB Karuari Secondary School to the full reconstruction of a severely dilapidated seven-classroom block at Kamutu Primary School.
Other proposed interventions include water-harvesting systems at Mbanda Salama and Mbingoni primary schools, an administration block and ablution facilities for Musingini Primary School, and urgent classroom renovations and a new Grade 9 classroom at Kionyweni Primary School. Together, the projects are expected to directly benefit hundreds of students and teachers while safeguarding years of investment in school woodlots.
Beyond bricks and mortar, the initiative reflects a longer-term strategy to turn schools into anchors of climate action and community resilience. By pairing infrastructure development with environmental performance, the Green Initiative Challenge is positioning education institutions not just as centres of learning, but as drivers of sustainable development in regions where both trees and classrooms have historically struggled to survive.
