About us
Our story
The Mara Grassroots Movement is a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness on sustainable grazing management and supporting communities in developing culturally relevant regenerative grazing practices. Founded by Dr Oscar Huygens, the movement began as a grassroots initiative and has grown through strong engagement and interest from Maasai stakeholders.
Our Team
Dr Oscar Huygens
Founder & Director
Oscar has a passion for conservation and rangeland ecology. He holds a PhD in Ecology and Conservation from the Shinshu University, Japan.
Born on a farm in France, agriculture has always been central to his life. At 20, he moved to the U.S. to work as a cowboy on two of Wyoming’s largest ranches. He later earned a degree in agricultural economics from Montana State University, where he developed an interest in regenerative grazing. During summers, he herded 1,500 sheep in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Yellowstone, where encounters with predators sparked his interest in conservation and human–carnivore coexistence — the focus of his PhD.
Oscar has since spent substantial time in the Mara. This allowed him to get a feeling of the state of the savannas and to evaluate and compare the various grazing practices used in the region. Oscar’s extensive experience equips him with a deep understanding of the challenges facing the Greater Maasai Mara, enables him to articulate the advantages of regenerative grazing, and positions him to advocate for effective, sustainable solutions.
Alex Simorei
Land Management Specialist
Alex is a land management specialist with expertise in Integrated Landscape Management and Regenerative Grazing Systems. He has worked as a consultant for SNV, leading initiatives in integrated landscape management that promote sustainable land use and community participation.
As a Holistic Management trainer with Enonkishu Conservancy, Brookside, and Step30, Alex focuses on improving rangeland health, supporting community engagement, and empowering youth through entrepreneurship and leadership development.
Dr Gabriella Santini
Programme Assistant & Researcher
Gabriella is a trained Environmental Anthropologist who completed her PhD at University College London in 2025. Her doctoral research was conducted in Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Amboseli ecosystems, where she collaborated closely with Maasai pastoralists, conservation practitioners, and state agencies to explore strategies for enhancing community benefits from conservation initiatives. Gabriella’s approach to research is grounded in participatory, collaborative, and experimental approaches.
Gabriella’s research explores how Maasai ecological knowledge can inform and enhance conservation practices. Her work is grounded in a people–with-nature paradigm, seeking sustainable solutions that support both communities and ecosystems.
Isaac Lempaka
Community Lead & Liaison Officer
Isaac is a member of Oletukat community. As the former Secretary of the Oletukat Group Ranch and a former Ward Administrator for the Narok County Government, he brings extensive experience in community engagement and local governance.
Letter from the Director
Thank you for joining us and contributing to the success of our work. We are not so much about nice speeches and pictures as we are about finding long lasting real and efficient solutions to the climate crisis in spite of a tiny budget.
You may be wondering as to why we center our action in Kenya’s Greater Masai Mara. Why not work with the livestock owners of the Limousin in central France or with the cereal farmers further north? There too regenerative farming practices could raise soil carbon content dramatically with no less dramatical effects on global warming. We chose the Greater Masai Mara because that is where we determined we could have the greatest impact. In France and most of Europe soil enhancing practices are issues for individual farmers or landowners to address. In this context, convincing each farmer to adopt regenerative farming practices did not seem like a realistic way for our small organisation to try to make a difference in the fight against global warming. Encouraging the agricultural communities of richer nation to adopt regenerative farming practices sequestering large amount of carbon in their soils, and solutions exist for every situation, is a task for governments and larger organisations and pressure groups. We felt we would be more likely to obtain good results, and on a much grander scale, in the Greater Mara where livestock husbandry has historically been more collective. Furthermore, the Maasai, who are often living on the edge of poverty, are more open to practices likely to fight the desertification they witness on a daily basis. Our approach is to establish pilot projects throughout the area to demonstrate the efficacy of the regenerative grazing practices we advocate, to encourage more and more livestock and land owners and managers to participate in the program on the basis of our results, and to eventually spread our methods throughout the country and the greater East African region. One thing is for certain, carbon sequestration in soils, wherever it takes place, provides benefits for the entire planet in the context of the fight against global warming. It is therefore totally logical for us to act where we think we might be the most rapidly efficient.
With my most sincerest thanks,
Oscar Huygens
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