In the rolling hills of Kericho, Kenya, a quiet revolution is unfolding: no protest signs, no megaphones, just a steadfast belief that no child should ever have to choose between school and work.
At the heart of this transformation is Nando Ngandu: a digital strategist, fieldworker, and someone who never loses sight of the bigger picture. We spoke with him about how 150 women are changing the course of child labor, one small farm at a time.
Nando: “I was born in Maastricht but have been living in Kenya for several years now. I got stuck here during the COVID pandemic and just never left. With my background in IT and agriculture, I joined Moyee to create real impact: by digitizing farmers, setting up community farms, and developing strategies to tackle child labor at its root.”
Nando: “Because it’s a reality, often hidden, but very real. Think of girls staying home to look after younger siblings or helping with housework so their parents can harvest. Our research showed that in some areas, up to 48% of children are involved in work to some extent. But the real issue isn’t unwillingness, it’s poverty.”
Nando: “Exactly. Only about 20% of a farmer’s land is typically used for coffee. So we focus on the other 80% too, with nitrogen-fixing beans and poultry, for example. These are crops and livestock women traditionally already manage. It helps create food security and generates extra income, enough to cover school fees.”
Nando: “It’s a one hectare training farm, set up and run by the women’s organization Quico. There we experiment with new crops like gooseberries, raise chickens, offer training, and plant coffee trees, because when women plant the trees themselves, they gain voting rights in the cooperative. It’s a way to build change from within.”
Nando: “Absolutely. It’s about poverty, power dynamics, and lack of choices. If you want children in school, families need to be able to afford it. That’s why we work with local committees, chiefs, teachers, religious leaders, to design interventions that actually work in their specific communities.”
Nando: We’ve only just begun, but the results are promising. We now have 150 women involved, with plans to scale up to 1,000. On some demo plots, yields are five times higher. One small gooseberry field can bring in enough income to send ten children to school for a year.
Nando: “Not at all. They’re free to sell to whomever they choose. We buy what we can, but the goal is to build sustainable systems, ones that can thrive even without us.”
Nando: “That’s exactly the point. It’s not about giving fish, but teaching how to fish. It might be slower this way, but it belongs to them. And that’s what makes it last, even after we’re gone.”
Abel Ketema, Digitalization and Data Manager at FairChain, provides an update on the latest coffee harvest, the progress of digitalization, and the future of coffee farming in Ethiopia.
Sander gives us some insider information about the biocompost project. That means: more sustainability, better soil health and less CO2!
Tess gives us a New Year’s update from our roastery in Nairobi, Kenya. Think factory challenges, a new café and personal accomplishments!
