ABOUT US
Mount Elgon Conservation and Heritage Initiative (MECHI)
The Mount Elgon Conservation and Heritage Initiative (MECHI) is a purpose-driven not-for-profit organization registered as company Limited by guarantee. MECHI seeks to address the pressing impacts of climate change on the Mount Elgon ecosystem. Our programs are guided by a strategic five-year plan (2025–2029), which outlines actionable objectives to restore degraded ecosystems, empower local communities, and enhance environmental sustainability. MECHI envisions becoming a beacon of conservation excellence in Kenya and beyond, transforming the Mount Elgon region into a model of resilience and ecological balance.
Our Core Values
People
Safety, diversity, equity, inclusion and personal developmentOwnership
Accountability & TrackingExcellence
Purpose and urgencyGrowth
Community value, reputation and trustOur Programmes
WHAT WE DO FOR YOU
Biodiversity Conservation
Research & Indigenous Knowledge
Climate Change Action
Capacity Building & Awareness
Environmental Management
Gender and Inclusion
How We Work
Everything MECHI does is guided by our values – we partner, are impactful, creative, ethical and responsible.
We deliver impactful community projects that help to drive progress, support sustainable development and protect the environment. We identify local solutions that can work at scale and replicate this at community forums. Optimism runs through all that we do, and while the challenges we face are great, we believe that positive change can and will be achieved.
Ethical and responsible
Our values are at the heart of everything we do, and we hold ourselves to high ethical standards. We go beyond legal compliance and regulations and are committed to ensuring we are socially, economically and environmentally responsible. All our staff are trained in anti-bribery, anti-bullying and equality. We have a safeguarding policy and a modern slavery and human trafficking statement, both of which apply to both ourselves and those we work with.
Partnership
Partnerships are at the heart of our work – from community groups to multilateral organizations. We make a trusted partner and friend to those we work with. The Organization builds relationships, shared understanding, and collective focus with like-minded partners in 8 counties to generate evidence and build capacity in order to drive change in policy and practice.
Innovation
Now, more than ever, innovation is critical to building a better world for vulnerable communities. We must do more collectively, we must act faster together, to design, use and scale truly transformational solutions for vulnerable groups to thrive.
Throughout our work, MECHI has committed to the following promises:
Continual learning
Operating a comprehensive organization-wide results framework will give us insights into where and how we are able to make a contribution that builds on our distinctive strengths. We know how to share lessons across the organization and to learn from both success and failure. We will use this experience as we realize an ambitious new approach through our Learning and Impact Framework.
Promote Gender Justice
Already a strong focus, our efforts both ‘look out’ — through project design, training and support — and ‘look in’ to MECHI itself — through our internal Gender Equality Policy. Inspired and guided by our faith values, MECHI is fully committed to expanding our important projects focused on providing justice, protection and empowerment, ensuring equitable impact, and the effective access, participation, recognition and voice of both males and females as well as ensuring the protection and promotion of the family as the cornerstone of society.
Protecting the Environment
Climate change and environmental degradation have devastating effects on the communities with which we work. We enable communities to better protect themselves from the impact of disasters, with disaster risk reduction schemes often encompassing climate-change adaptation as well as initiatives to safeguard the environment from further harm.
