MERC works closely with grassroots Maasai organizations throughout Maasailand, all levels of Kenyan government, and national and international civil society organizations to create partnerships and access to decision making. MERC supports the leadership of Meitamei Olol Dapash and through him is accountable to Maasai traditional leadership. MERC is a registered Non-governmental organization in Kenya, and also a 501(c)3 in the U.S. The U.S. board and staff are all volunteers, which is one of the things that distinguishes MERC for other international organizations working in Maasailand; another is that MERC is funded entirely through grassroots contributions. MERC is based in the Dopoi Center on community land near Talek.

MERC promotes the empowerment of the indigenous Maasai community of East Africa through education, tourism reform, environmental conservation, and land rights, while it engages with broader international efforts for indigenous cultural survival, education, species survival, and environmental conservation.

Meitamei is a community leader and activist, founder of MERC, and candidate for the Kenyan Senate in 2022. Meitamei was taken to school at a young age from his home community in Narok District and has gone on to use his subsequent education to advocate for the Maasai community, to stopping the illegal appropriation of Maasai people’s traditional lands for commercial development, agriculture, mining, irresponsible tourism operations, indiscriminate clearing of forests, and other forms of development that are destructive to Maasai culture, African wildlife and the delicate habitat they share.

Children in Maasai land go to school and engage with Kenya’s new Competency-Based Curriculum, which replaces Indigenous Maasai language, history, and ways of learning with English, colonial versions of history, and eurocentric values. The Maasai are reclaiming their education systems and safeguarding their children’s futures as Indigenous and changemakers. Schools in Maasailand are an incredible opportunity to sustain Maasai language, values, history, and sustainable lifeways.