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Women's economic empowerment in the Amboseli ecosystem: dignified incomes from beadwork, crafts and the community tree nurseries, and with them a measure of independence.
02About this project
Ubuntu Smiles is the foundation's women's economic empowerment work in the Amboseli ecosystem. It supports women to earn from their skills, through beadwork and crafts and through the community nurseries they run, and connects that income to a wider sense of dignity and possibility.
It runs alongside the Olchani restoration work, with ifaw as partner. The women who have taken part describe it in their own words: community leader Anna Touwa has spoken about the economic empowerment it brought to her life and to other women in her community.
The craft and income work runs through the foundation's story, from early value-addition sessions with Amboseli women, to beadwork, to the named Ubuntu Smiles programme profiled in 2025. When women earn, families become more resilient and communities become stronger partners for wildlife.