March to the Top has two new partners!
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa and home to the last two northern white rhinos on Earth. The conservancy is currently participating in a ground-breaking bio rescue project, developing northern white rhino embryos and transferring them to surrogate mothers in a bid to save the species from extinction.
Spanning over 110,000 acres, the conservancy has the highest densities of wildlife in Kenya outside the Maasai Mara – it plays a critical role in protecting myriad rare and endangered species.
March to the Top has partnered with Ol Pejeta to improve water resources. Funding has provided new pipelines and borehole rehabilitation along with rainwater harvesting facilities and water storage tanks. Further water treatment has improved water quality for facilities across the conservancy.
A lack of water drives wildlife to migrate outside protected areas, creating opportunities for poachers. Those animals that remain must compete for water resources provided by the conservancy and extracted by borehole infrastructure. Investment in this infrastructure ensures access to water for wildlife and employees of the conservancy; those carrying-out the vital tasks of conservation. Using water from boreholes onsite leaves natural resources (rivers and springs) available for the surrounding communities.
J.M. Goodhope is a primary and junior secondary school in Ndaragwa, Kenya. The center provides equal access to education for children living in more remote areas. J.M. Goodhope provides education to 158 students. Of these, 34 are orphans who live on campus and 28 receive discounted tuition as their families are unable to pay fees.
The school is a local leader in academics but is better known for its focus on agriculture. Each class is assigned its own garden plot where children learn how to farm, how to eat healthfully, and what the changing climate means for their farming futures. In addition to specific farming skillsets, the children learn an appreciation of reducing food costs and have helped equip their families and community with the tools necessary to better manage economic instability.
March to the Top launched our partnership with J.M. Goodhope after a visit to the center in May, 2023. Recognizing the wealth of knowledge, strong commitment, and extraordinary ambition of school leadership, M2T decided to invest. We are currently investing in school infrastructure – it’s impossible to learn if you don’t have a safe environment and the right tools.
We are so excited to see where these new partnerships take us!