Big Life Foundation

Protecting over 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa, Big Life partners with local communities to protect nature. Photographer Nick Brandt, conservationist Richard Bonham, and entrepreneur Tom Hill co-founded Big Life in 2010. It was the first organisation in East Africa to establish coordinated cross-border anti-poaching operations. In recent years they have expanded to employ hundreds of local Maasai rangers.

The Community Health Programme launched in 2018, with support from CHASE Africa, addresses the barriers rural communities face in accessing reproductive health services, including family planning. Rural Maasai communities remain heavily patriarchal. The existing stigma and misconceptions about family planning often prevent women and young girls from making their own decisions about their bodies, and if, when and how many children they want. It is difficult for people to embrace family planning as an acceptable part of modern Maasai life. 

Nonetheless, over the years, the community health programme has developed wide-ranging and comprehensive interventions including community dialogues, door-to-door visits, backpack nurse outreach clinics, and youth and adolescent services, including child rights clubs. These initiatives developed through an integrated and solid partnership with the Ministry of Health and local community leaders.

Despite our successes, there is still a long way to go. A survey conducted by Big Life in 2021 showed that only 43% of women are using family planning (compared to the national average of approximately 60%). The majority of men still do not support the use of family planning (84% of male spouses disapprove of any family planning according to Big Life’s survey). This causes tension and problems between couples. It has also become increasingly apparent that a stronger focus on adolescents and youths is needed due to high rates of teenage pregnancy, early marriage and school dropout.