Niko Active
Connecting climate and health science to lived experiences.
We partnered with Wellcome on Niko Active, a campaign that connected science with lived experience to raise awareness of climate’s health impacts and enable action.
Key Takeaways
Athletes’ workshop featured 10 athletes and was attended by the County Secretary of Sports and her county officer
Posts by 23 influencers at the Iten Marathon saw 1,200+ engagements
27 climate action initiatives supported
Gatekeeper roundtable attracted 26 leaders with access to our key target audience
Africa Youth Climate Assembly drew changemakers from 60+ nations
Challenge
In Kenya, climate change is no longer about the future, because it is directly affecting people’s lives right now. However, there is a lack of understanding, from impacted communities through to leaders and decision makers, of how climate change is harming people’s health. We set out to build awareness of the intersection of climate and health, highlight why action is needed and facilitate that action.
Strategy
Our strategy aimed to empower and motivate Kenyan leaders to advocate for climate action by co-creating and highlighting stories from communities about how climate relates to health. By connecting science to lived experiences, we would provide leaders with relatable examples to support their climate advocacy. Our three goals were to engage impacted communities (rural women), partner with local gatekeepers and build the capacity of Kenyan decision makers to address climate-related health impacts.
Campaign
We collaborated with grassroots organizations and impacted communities to co-create relatable stories — then amplified those stories and developed a toolkit to help stakeholders understand the climate-health link through the stories. This was highly effective, leading to partnerships with the First Lady and Kenyan marathon runners that made athletes effective spokespeople for climate and health. We also worked to advance climate and health messaging at key moments, such as press interviews, leveraging their global reach.
Impact
The success of our efforts exceeded expectations, generating additional activities beyond the initial scope and leading to a partnership with GROOTS to establish the Rural Women’s Club, which will empower Kenyan women into the future. We distributed 125 hard copies and 200+ digital copies of our toolkit, recruited 23 Iten Marathon influencers and welcomed changemakers from 60+ nations to our Africa Youth Climate Assembly. Sports and health will clearly be a promising avenue for future campaigns.
“The toolkit is a brilliant document and helpful for climate conversations.”
Harriet Chiggai
President’s Gender and Women’s Rights Advisor
“As an athlete, I firmly believe that highlighting the correlation between climate and health, particularly within the realm of sports, offers a crucial entry point for ongoing discussions within our communities.”
Amos Kimutai
Marathoner
