OSIENALA was established in 1992 as a national NGO with its head office in Kisumu City in Nyanza province, Western Kenya. It started as a membership organization by local communities who live and drive their livelihoods from the resources of Lake Victoria and its environs. It was also to provide a forum for addressing various environmental problems facing Lake Victoria. OSIENALA has created awareness locally and internationally about the problems facing Lake Victoria while at the same time creating structures that would support local communities to become the responsible custodian of their environment and the lake. OSIENALA endeavours to strengthen capacities within the communities for sound management, optimization of resource utilization and improvement of the social and economic status in the region.
Over the years, OSIENALA has repositioned and restructured its services to allow it to engage in regional management and conservation of Lake Victoria resources. OSIENALA works in partnership with other organizations both within the Lake Victoria Basin and internationally. In addition, OSIENALA enjoys co-operation and support from several Government departments, Non-Governmental Organizations, Regional and International agencies.
Vision: A sound Lake Victoria’s environment that sustains the equitable livelihood of communities.
Mission: To empower Lake Victoria communities to become key participants in the management and equitable utilization of resources for sustainable livelihoods through capacity building, research, policy advocacy, education, information dissemination and networking.
OSIENALA‘s collaboration with Worldwide renown partners in environment and development issues such as Global Nature Fund (GNF), Living Lakes Network, OSRAM in Germany and the International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC) in Japan have further strengthened OSIENALA‘s role in the region.