Choice, Not Chance: Conversations for Our Future.

Director’s Note

September has always been a month of reflection. It is the turning of the seasons in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Here in the Global South, we are moving into the hot season. Each year, the heat grows more unrelenting, driven by climate change and the consumption patterns of the wealthiest 10% of the world’s population, those with a net worth of more than $56,000.

September also marks World Contraception Day. It reminds us that having children should be a matter of choice, not chance. In Kenya, we say that a child is born with a plate, but whether the plate is full or empty depends on how many siblings there are to share it with.

Choice, not chance, is at the heart of our work. We provide safe spaces for youth to speak openly about what it means to bring a child into the world today, how to raise them well: what it costs; the competition for work, for resources, for opportunity. These conversations go far beyond fertility and contraception. These critical decisions young people make now will shape their own lives and the lives of generations to come.

Many of the young people we work with are also caught in a torrent of online influences. Hours lost to TikTok, gambling, and betting, at the expense of real-world experiences that could nourish their souls. It is a hard time to be young.

This is why the work of Critical Conversations Association matters. In our residential programmes, we see what happens when young people are given the chance to step away from the noise. In the quiet of nature, they can breathe, slow down, and reconnect with themselves, with the earth, and with their own indigenous wisdom. In these calm and safe spaces, they discover that they do have choices. They can decide what kind of life they want to lead. They can choose not to waste small earnings on data for reels. They can choose not to have five dependent children but instead take the steps needed to raise a smaller family. With the careful guidance of facilitators, they ask so many questions and find their own compass. After only a few days, the relief, the healing, and the clarity are visible. They see the world with new eyes. They honour their pain and the pain of the world. They return to their communities as peer educators, ready to positively influence others.

We are a small association. We cannot shield youth from political, social, and economic turbulence or from environmental collapse. But we can create sanctuaries in nature where reflection builds resilience. In these spaces, young people learn a different rhythm of life, rooted in the ways of their ancestors, and experience the healing power of nature. When they begin to align with the legacy they want to leave behind, transformation happens. That transformation influences their peers and begins a wave of change. This is a new and powerful kind of conservation education.

— Director, Critical Conversations Association

🌍 Connecting youth to the hope of Planetary Health

As August came to a close, CCA was invited by The Maa Trust to lead a three-day peer educator residential training in Talek, Narok County. This was a rookie group of future peer educators. Twenty-one young people (13 male, 8 female, ages 16–25) gathered to explore the vital connections between Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) while building their skills to lead conversations on family planning, environmental stewardship, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). We delivered our unique programme, which approaches the key issues of our time – population growth and consumption - through interactive learning that draws on indigenous wisdom, grounding practices, and performance, to build both knowledge and self-awareness. These young people were just beginning their journey and were still shy. Usually, we train in spaces where young people can be in wild places and camp. We hope to be able to interact with these young people again, but in a residential training away from the internet and technology and closer to nature! Do invite us back, Maa trust – we value the chance to support your vital work!

We had the incredible opportunity to work with Dandelion Africa’s talented peer educators! What a privilege it was to share tools they can now add to their own amazing toolkit.

In mid-August, we spent five unforgettable days in Baringo County with 21 peer educators (10 male, 11 female, ages 14–27). This residential training brought together both eager first-timers and seasoned youth leaders, ready to strengthen their skills and confidence to spark conversations on sexual and reproductive health, family planning, and population dynamics.

The week unfolded in a vibrant mix of grounding practices, dance, theatre, and spirited debates. Morning stretches and breathwork set a mindful tone, while afternoons came alive with drumming, storytelling, and creative performances. Questions around family size, the safety of contraception, landholding capacity, our complete dependence on the planet for life as well as questions about fibroids, fistulas and endometriosis; indicated how safe the space and how young people need space for conversations.  Evenings around the bonfire brought laughter, riddles, songs, and cultural stories that strengthened bonds.

Through breathwork, earthing, and reflections on Ubuntu, participants deepened their sense of gratitude, resilience, and responsibility to the planet. Using the Active Hope framework, they explored environmental pressures. They reflected on how every choice—big or small—shapes the web of life.

By the close of the training, participants reported greater confidence, and stronger facilitation skills. They left inspired to guide their peers in meaningful conversations about family planning, the power of a smaller two-child family and the realisation that what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves and that without intact biodiversity and a healthy planet, human life cannot continue.

CCA is excited to continue working alongside Dandelion Africa and others in the Population–Health–Environment–Development (PHED) movement to bring this muted conversation about population growth and consumption, as the root cause of all our planetary pressures, to the fore, to give ourselves and future generations a chance.

Critical Conversations Association is proud to be an official partner of the 2025 Maa Cultural Festival, funded in part by the Saruni Basecamp Explorer Foundation. As part of this vibrant partnership, we will be live at the festival, presenting a powerful original play: Eng’elunoto, created by our team with the guidance of Lizzie Jago and featuring 30 of our 150+ Population Champions.

This one-of-a-kind performance invites festival-goers to reflect on how we can face today’s population and planetary challenges with unexpected resilience and creative power.

From November 4 to 9, 2025, the Maa Cultural Festival will take place at Kimana Gate in Amboseli National Park, Kajiado County. Spearheaded by the Governors of Kajiado, Narok, and Samburu counties, the festival celebrates Maa heritage while sparking critical conversations on culture, conservation, and sustainability.

Beyond celebration, the festival seeks to preserve Maa culture, empower local economies, promote tourism, and strengthen unity and identity, creating opportunities for women and youth to thrive through cultural exchange and economic growth.

CCA is honoured to join hands with partners and communities, becoming the first to bring a youth-led theatrical performance to the festival. We invite you to follow and support our journey as we get our art and message of prioritizing planetary health and Active Hope to the heart of the Maa community. We will be posting on the evolution of the play and the actors: please follow us for more.

Thank You!