GIFT International
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Maasai mothers, babies and families seated on a lawn at a community gathering

Grassroots Initiatives Funding and Training

Community-led change in Kenya, since 2001

We are a small Northern Ireland charity. We fund and train grassroots projects that Kenyan communities choose, run and sustain themselves.

Donate See our work
years working alongside Kenyan communities
25
teachers trained in sustainable development education
500+
Maasai households switched from firewood to clean gas
90
children given life-changing cleft surgery
3
Adults in discussion around a table in an open-sided shelter

Our story

It started with 30 teachers and a workshop

In 2001 our founders travelled to Kenya as self-funded volunteers to run environmental education workshops for teachers. In the Maasai Mara they met community elders who wanted a school, and GIFT helped to build it.

Twenty-five years on, the same approach guides everything we do. Local people come up with the ideas and manage the projects using local skills, and we provide the start-up funding and training.

Read our story

Our work

What your support makes possible

All projects →
Row of Maasai women standing behind their new red gas cylinders

Maasai Mara (Enkereri)

Clean cooking

Gas cookers for 90 Maasai households cut smoke in homes, protect the forest and give children time for breakfast before school.

Maasai mothers and young children gathered on grass under trees at a community meeting

Maasai Mara (Transmara)

Mother & Baby project

Safer births for Maasai mothers, through clinic transport, vaccinations, mosquito nets and food. Since 2025 the project has been run and funded by the community itself.

Trainers demonstrating a stainless steel honey extractor to Maasai women

Gede (coast) & Laikipia

Beekeeping & the Honey Centre

GIFT's longest-running enterprise. It began with hives and training, and now includes a community-owned Honey Centre, a mangrove apiary and beekeepers training other beekeepers.

How we work

Small grants, local leadership, lasting change

  1. Communities choose

    Project ideas come from local people, through yearly consultations where women's voices are given real weight.

  2. Communities run it

    Every project is managed by local community members, using local resources and skills. GIFT provides start-up funding and training.

  3. Built to last

    We aim for every project to be self-sustaining within five years. Our trustees are unpaid volunteers.

25 years in five chapters

The full timeline →
  1. 2001–2006 Beginnings

    Two volunteers, a teacher-training workshop, and the start of a lasting commitment to Kenya.

  2. 2007–2014 A registered charity

    “A leap of faith”: GIFT International is born, and the work grows into beekeeping, crafts, cattle and tree nurseries.

  3. 2015–2019 Steady work

    Projects continue quietly in Kenya while supporters at home keep the fundraising going.

  4. 2020–2022 Pandemic

    Events stop and borders close, but because GIFT budgets a year ahead, the projects keep going.

  5. 2023–2026 Return & renewal

    Back in Kenya, with new enterprises, the first cleft surgeries, clean cooking, water and a project handed over to its community.

Latest news

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Get involved

Small grants, real change

Every gift goes to projects that communities have chosen and run themselves.

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