Kenya

Gitonga Caroline Mwende

Gitonga Caroline Mwende is a 22-year-old Kenyan. She was born in Meru, which is in the Eastern Region of Kenya.

In 2016, she enrolled in the School of Law at Moi University and is still pursuing a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree.
At school, she is in charge of the Red Cross Movement. With her leadership, the group has organized and engaged in numerous environmental sensitization forums, clean-ups, tree planting and education of people on basic hygiene standards.

Caroline is particularly passionate about environmental conservation and sustainability and has engaged herself in various activities in that regard. In 2017, she penned down an award winning essay on environment sustainability and was crowned the MISS AFEW-KENYA 2017. Her enthusiasm for activism for nature through writing essays and articles on environmental issues also enabled her scoop the award for the best student in the University Category in 2018; in the Annual AFEW KENYA Environmental Competition.

She has also done various short courses to broaden her knowledge on nature and environmental issues. Such is the UNESCO GCED (Global Citizenship Education) 4 week course which she successfully completed in 2019. She has also completed a Certificate Course in Sustainable Development (2018).

In addition, her passion for sustainable governance saw her participate in the KEBS (Kenya Bureau of Standards) Annual Competition on the Role of Standardization in Fighting against Corruption, where she wrote an essay on the same and was among the top ten best participants. She has also participated in moot court competitions on various means that can be adopted to fight corruption.

Through her engagements with the Earth Charter through the 10-week Earth Charter online training program on Leadership, Sustainability and Ethics, she gathered the requisite skills and understanding of the workings of the global Bodies such as the Earth Charter International and the United Nations in peace initiative programs and particularly the need to encourage Youth Participation in community leadership as well as development programs. She also enjoyed networking with diverse minds through the numerous forums.

Mwende Gitonga has a good command in English and Kiswahili, both written and spoken. She is also proficient in basic it skills. She is a dynamic leader and enjoys reading, writing, cooking, bird watching and going on safaris.