To regenerate land, water, and livelihoods together by treating the Takaungu Creek watershed as one connected socio-ecological system. The project demonstrates that restoration can be community-led, practical, and durable when grounded in shared labour traditions, local governance through Dhome assemblies, transparent coordination tools via the Sarafu Network, and simple methods that keep care going beyond short-term funding cycles. As steward Emmanuel Kahindi describes his wish for the land: to develop a centre where everyone can come to learn and to spread the practices and knowledge out to the wider community.
In twenty years, we see a landscape where rainwater mostly soaks into healthy soils instead of rushing away, and the Takaungu Creek runs clearer because upstream land is well cared for. Indigenous trees and food forests form layered canopies across farms and homesteads, creating shade, habitat, and steady harvests. Mangroves and creek-edge ecosystems are stronger, supported by upstream stewardship and clear local agreements. We see a community that knows how to organise itself through shared labour via Mwerya and trusted coordination tools on the Sarafu Network. Young people grow up with practical ecological skills, cultural pride, and real livelihood pathways connected to their land. Steward Emmanuel Kahindi envisions Mnyumbuni becoming a centre where anyone can come to learn regenerative practices and carry that knowledge back to their own farms and communities — producing enough food for the team, the community groups, and surplus to sell beyond the village. The vision guiding us is simple: a place where ecology and community reinforce each other, and where care becomes the normal way of living.
Watershed ridge-to-reef planning, placing interventions by how water moves from uplands to seasonal channels to the creek edge. Hugelkultur trenches and half-moon water-harvesting basins designed to sink rainfall, rebuild soil biology, and prevent erosion on the sloped three-acre site. Water-harvesting earthworks (swales and terraces) designed for community maintenance. Erosion control pairing earth shaping with living barriers, grass strips, shrubs, mulched berms, and silt traps. Soil cover and composting with thick mulches, shade creation, and composting systems timed with rains. Syntropic agroforestry designing mixed tree-crop systems that build canopy, stabilise soils, and reduce evaporation using locally adapted species — including cacao, coconuts, citrus, bananas, papayas, and guavas. Native seed and food production nurseries growing both indigenous restoration species and food-producing plants. Planned integration of goats and cattle for milk production and compost inputs. Biodiversity monitoring using simple indicator taxa and observations that local monitors can repeat.
Mnyumbuni strengthens food security by supporting agroecology, food forests, and nurseries that provide reliable planting material and diversified harvests. It improves water security by slowing runoff, increasing infiltration, and reducing sediment flow into the creek, with clear local agreements and maintenance routines for collective water system care. It functions as a gathering and learning space where neighbours meet through Dhome assemblies, Mwerya shared labour days, trainings, cultural events, and intergenerational exchange. Three community groups — predominantly women, with one all-male group — visit weekly for shared workdays, learning syntropic agroforestry, hugelkultur, composting, and water-harvesting techniques at the demonstration farm and implementing them on their own homesteads across Kiriba Village. It builds skills in land care, monitoring, governance, and coordination that strengthen community self-reliance. Economically, it creates livelihood pathways through nurseries, agroforestry, beekeeping, ecological restoration work, and stewardship coordination tools via the Sarafu Network that recognise and support care labour.
Stewardship is carried out through rotational labour groups (Mwerya) and decision-making gatherings (Dhome), where neighbours contribute time and skills to community wellbeing and reciprocal care loops. Steward Emmanuel Kahindi, born in neighbouring Kiriba Village, coordinates three community groups that visit weekly for shared labour days — learning syntropic agroforestry, hugelkultur, composting, and water-harvesting techniques at Mnyumbuni and implementing them on their own homesteads. The groups are predominantly women, with one rare all-male group also practicing the rotation of labour. Community members engage through hands-on volunteering, shared workdays, and seasonal restoration activities such as planting, earthworks, nursery coordination, maintenance, and monitoring. Elders, youth, and farmers contribute knowledge rooted in Giriama and Mijikenda traditions that guides choices and supports cultural practices tied to stewardship. Mnyumbuni hosts trainings, field walks, student internships, and visits from international practitioners and researchers. Syntropic agroforestry design workshops led by James Young have been held three times, providing structured knowledge exchange between global expertise and local practice. The Mwerya Revival participatory video, produced with InsightShare, documents and celebrates the living practice of rotational labour. Monitoring results and project updates are shared back locally, creating transparency and collective reflection.
Economic coordination runs through the Sarafu Network, a digital resource coordination platform developed by Grassroots Economics on the Celo blockchain. Contributions flow into a shared community fund that backs concrete restoration, routine upkeep, and local learning. Each contribution is assigned to clearly named activities, with open receipts anyone can check. Supporters can be acknowledged publicly or receive sponsor vouchers linked to specific projects through commitment pools, so their gift is visible, redeemable, and traceable. Funds are released in steps against milestones, with sensible caps per project and a small reserve for emergencies. Local stewards approve spending within these guardrails and publish audit trails. The CosmoLocal Credit framework provides a longer-term pathway for connecting local commitment pools to broader regenerative finance networks.
*This Bioregional Land Node is working with Mycelium to collect and display more information about their land, community, and regenerative practices. Check Back Soon for More Information!
Ecosystem Unity:
Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane Coastal Forest Mosaic, a component of the East African Coastal Forests ecoregion. This ecosystem encompasses coastal forest fragments, bushland, grassland, mangrove estuaries, and nearshore marine environments along the Kenyan coast, unified by the Indian Ocean maritime influence, seasonal rainfall patterns, and the hydrological connections between inland watersheds and coastal estuaries.
Tropical savanna climate (Koppen Aw) transitioning to semi-humid coastal zone. The coastal strip of Kilifi County is classified as Agro-Ecological Zone IV (semi-humid to semi-arid) with maritime influence moderating temperatures. Warm and humid year-round with two distinct rainy seasons.
Bimodal rainfall pattern with long rains from March through May (Masika) and short rains from October through December (Vuli). May is typically the wettest month (approximately 205 mm). The dry seasons occur from January to February and June to September, with February being the driest month (approximately 19 mm).
Temperatures rarely fall below 20 C (68 F) or exceed 34 C (93 F). The hottest periods occur in February and March, with daytime highs reaching 31-34 C. The coolest period is June through August, with nighttime lows around 20-23 C.
Located within the Takaungu Creek watershed, which drains the coastal hinterland of southern Kilifi County eastward into the Indian Ocean. The creek is a tidal estuary with significant mangrove coverage. The project site sits in the upper-to-mid watershed zone where seasonal channels collect runoff from the surrounding landscape before feeding into the main creek system.
Groundwater in the Kilifi coastal zone is accessed through shallow wells tapping into the coastal sedimentary aquifer system. The area benefits from rainfall infiltration through sandy soils and forested areas that recharge shallow aquifers. Saltwater intrusion is a growing concern along the coast. The project actively works on improving infiltration through earthworks and vegetative cover to support groundwater recharge.
Flora includes coastal bushland and woodland species such as Brachystegia, Afzelia, baobab (Adansonia digitata), coconut palm, cashew nut, mango, neem, and casuarina. The syntropic agroforestry system established since 2023 includes cacao (Theobroma cacao), coconuts, citrus varieties, bananas, papayas, guavas, and seasonal vegetables. Additional cultivated species include cassava, maize, cowpeas, pigeon peas, and sesame. A native species nursery supplies planting material for both on-site restoration and distribution to community groups. Fauna includes coastal forest birds, vervet monkeys, bush babies (galagos), mongoose species, monitor lizards, diverse butterfly communities, and marine species in the nearby creek including fish, crabs, and shrimp. Ten active beehive colonies of native stingless bees and honeybees are present on site.
Gently rolling coastal plain and low hills formed on coral limestone and coastal sediments, dissected by seasonal stream channels draining into Takaungu Creek. The landscape includes flat to gently undulating farmland, small ridges with remnant bush and tree cover, seasonal drainage depressions, and the incised creek valley with mangrove-lined estuary near the coast.
This land lies within the ancestral territory of the Giriama people, the largest of the nine Mijikenda Bantu-speaking groups who have inhabited the coastal hinterland of Kenya for centuries. The Mijikenda trace their origins to Shungwaya in the north and migrated southward, establishing sacred fortified hilltop settlements known as Kaya forests along the coastal ridge. The Giriama historically occupied the area around Kilifi Creek and extending to Takaungu, maintaining deep connections to the land through agriculture, fishing, and forest stewardship governed by traditional institutions and spiritual practices centred on the Kaya.
The Kilifi coastal landscape is a culturally layered territory shaped by centuries of Mijikenda settlement, Swahili-Arab trade, and colonial history. The sacred Kaya forests along the ridge are UNESCO World Heritage Sites representing the spiritual heart of Mijikenda identity. Takaungu village carries the legacy of 19th-century Mazrui and Swahili settlement, with historic architecture and fishing traditions. The broader landscape reflects a mosaic of smallholder farms, coconut and cashew plantations, remnant coastal bush, and emerging ecotourism and regenerative agriculture initiatives.
The Kilifi coastal hinterland has experienced significant land use change over recent decades, including deforestation for charcoal production, expansion of smallholder farming on increasingly marginal soils, subdivision of larger holdings, and growing pressure from tourism and urban expansion from Mombasa. Climate variability, including drought and erratic rainfall, has stressed traditional farming systems. Grassroots Economics Foundation established its headquarters at Mnyumbuni in 2023, when the three-acre site was essentially barren with degraded, nutrient-poor soils unable to support growth. Since then, the team has transitioned half an acre into intensive syntropic agroforestry with hugelkultur and half-moon earthworks, while building community coordination using the Sarafu Network and commitment pooling systems built on indigenous Mwerya traditions.
The Takaungu Creek watershed connects inland coastal bush and farmland to mangrove estuary and nearshore marine ecosystems, forming a natural ridge-to-reef corridor. Remnant Kaya forests along the coastal ridge serve as stepping-stone habitats for endemic species. The broader Kilifi coastline is part of the East African Coastal Forest Corridor linking fragments of globally significant coastal forest from southern Somalia to Mozambique. Maintaining tree cover and agroforestry canopy on farmland is critical for connectivity between isolated forest patches and Kaya reserves.
Kilifi town lies approximately 10 km to the north (population approximately 122,000). Mombasa, Kenya's second-largest city, is approximately 50 km to the south (population approximately 1.2 million). Takaungu village is approximately 3-5 km to the east. The site is accessible via the Mombasa-Malindi highway (B8). The nearest international airport is Moi International Airport in Mombasa.
