Together for Clean Air: Grassroots Communities Leading the Race for Solutions

For Juliet in Mathare, wearing a mask is no longer about COVID-19; it is about survival. Every day, smoke from burning waste seeps into her home, threatening her grandson’s lungs and straining her own fragile health. Her story echoes across Nairobi’s informal settlements, where air pollution silently erodes health, dignity, and opportunity.

At GROOTS Kenya, we know that clean air is the foundation of dignity and survival, and the pathway through which communities can safeguard generations and shape a just future. The State of Global Air 2024 report establishes that air pollution accounted for 8.1 million deaths globally in 2021, becoming the second leading risk factor for death, including for children under five years.

Tiny, invisible particles penetrate lungs, bloodstreams, and bodies, causing one-third of deaths from stroke, respiratory disease, and lung cancer. Pollution also fuels climate change, reduces agricultural productivity, and weighs heavily on economies. This is why the UN calls us to join the race for clean air, a race that informal settlements like Mathare, Kibra, Korogocho, and Mukuru are already running.

From Capacity Building to Collective Action

Three decades of transformative work in rural and information communities in Kenya have led us at GROOTS Kenya to know that real solutions emerge not from top-down prescriptions, but from co-creation with communities. Using our champion-led model, the first half of 2025 saw us train more than 100 community members to gain a deeper understanding of air pollution and its linkages to their health and livelihoods. Communities were trained in waste management, air quality rights, and data-driven advocacy. These awakenings have seen these champions mobilizing neighbors, engaging policymakers, and using digital platforms to amplify their voices.

In Mathare and Kibera, GROOTS Kenya worked with community members to conduct two community clean-ups. Streets and drainage channels clogged with burning waste were cleared, waste was segregated, and recyclables were linked to local processors. Each clean-up was paired with hands-on training, seeding a culture of ownership and empowering women and youth to become ambassadors for clean air.

Despite the urgent and sobering health risks of air pollution, the stories emerging from our champions give us hope. Youth are using digital platforms to share safe practices, and women are turning waste into new opportunities. These community-led actions prove that solutions are possible and that even in the most affected settlements, change is already taking root.

Grassroots Solutions to a Global Problem

While air pollution knows no borders, its impacts are not equally shared. Low-income communities contribute the least but suffer the most. In Nairobi, air pollution claims 2,500 lives annually, with informal settlements bearing the heaviest burden (Clean Air Fund). Women and children, who spend more time near smoky kitchens and waste sites, pay the steepest price.

Yet, these same communities are showing that solutions are possible. When women lead waste management initiatives, they reduce household smoke exposure. When youth take on digital campaigns for peer-to-peer learning, they spread sustainable practices faster than any poster campaign. And when grassroots voices are at the table, policies become inclusive, realistic, and just. These local actions connect to global commitments.

Every clean-up in Mathare and Kibra advances SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). Every grassroots champion embodies the UN’s call that “we’re racing for clean air, together.”

Our Call to Invest in grassroots community-led change

It is succinctly documented that the costs of inaction are far higher than the cost of action, actually staggering, including lost productivity, overwhelmed health systems, and weakened economies. But the benefits of action are immediate and profound and include healthier people, stronger economies, and a more stable climate.

On this International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, we invite partners, policymakers, and donors to join the race alongside grassroots communities. With sustained investment, we can scale clean-ups, expand training, and replicate grassroots-led innovations across Kenya and beyond. This is not just an environmental issue but a fight for justice, health, and the future of our children. Grassroots women and youth are already leading the way, and what’s needed now is the will to match their courage with investment and action.

Juliet’s story reminds us why this matters. Together with grassroots women and youth, we can co-create a future where every Kenyan breathes clean, safe air and where communities stand not at the margins of decision-making, but at its very heart.