One Ocean
Bahari Moja is a community led initiative. Around 200 women and 60 youths are involved in implementing long-term solutions to plastic pollution within communities and combatting the challenges of marine litter in the environment. Working since 2018, Bahari Moja registered as a CBO (Kiunga Bahari Moja) in 2022. In collaboration with partners and stakeholders such as Northern Rangelands Trust, Kiwayu Safaris, The Pamoja Initiative, the Lamu Environment Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy, we aim to tackle the escalating threat plastic poses to remote communities and the environment. Plastic pollution is predominantly poorly understood: the real impact on our planet and humanity is playing-out in real time, signifying that this is an initiative driven by constantly evolving needs and solutions
Bahari Moja is among the first community led movements to combat the escalating impact of plastic pollution. Following our initial push to engage and sensitize communities around waste management and the impact of litter on human health and the environment, Bahari Moja is mobilizing communities to effectively manage waste disposal in the absence of any government systems. In the past five years we have organized collaborative cleanups involving up to 80 women and youth, collecting between 3 and 8 tonnes of litter off stretches of coastline. This litter is returned to the Mkokoni Bahari Moja center, where it is sorted, recycled and upcycled into materials with market value. Our efforts are guided by the vision of having healthy marine ecosystems and a plastic free ocean that supports sustainable development, health and wellbeing.
Kiunga Marine National Reserve, located in the Lamu archipelago comprises of vastly diverse shoreline and intertidal ecosystems and has been identified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a bio-diverse hotspot. The remote area is made up of a large network of coral islands, estuaries, coral reefs, beaches, as well as some of the most intact mangroves forests in the world, supporting extraordinary biodiversity and providing refuge to a wide range of marine and littoral wildlife. These ecosystems are being increasingly inundated by tonnes of marine plastic, threatening the survival of many species, and in turn the communities who depend on them.
Meet the team
At Bahari Moja, we have a team dedicated to our vision as well as the health and livelihoods of their community.
Abdul Abu Hassan
Bahari Moja Supervisor: A youth leader and environmental activist born and raised in Mkokoni. Abdul holds a Diploma in Medical Engineering and is passionate about environmental conservation and community development. He actively promotes sustainable solutions for coastal communities with the goal to empower youth and advance community-led environmental initiatives.
Shali Mohammed
Chair of Mkokoni Beach Management Unit: previously Mkokoni Village Hereditary Chief and KICOWA chair: He is a motivator and visionary and an active member of his community.
Binti Hassan, Tima Shali ,Bule Aboud, Tima Ali, Rehema Hassan, Amina Abshir
Eco Brick makers at the Mkokoni Bahari Moja center.
Ali Hassan
KICOWA Manager: with a degree in Marine Business and Management, he leads the Kiunga turtle conservation group. His role entails program implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
Fatuma Ali and Sophia Bwanakheri
Plastic Sorters at the Mkokoni Bahari Moja center.
Camilla Pelizzoli
Bahari Moja Director: she drives the overall vision for the project, coordinates networking and supports projects’ implementation by researching and offering solutions for technical and other issues.
Mohamed Shariff
KICOWA Community Liaison Officer: with a degree in Social Science and over 7 years NGO work experience in various positions including extension and management roles, he is the focal point between projects and
Bahari Moja center.
Lucy Wood
Bahari Moja Institutional Development Adviser: building on 30+ years of NGO experience, she supports Bahari Moja in its fund-raising, networking and communication.