Yiaku Laikipiak Trust (YLT) was founded in the year 2000 and officially registered in the year 2003 as a Self Help Group under the Societies Act of Kenya, in 2009 it upgraded to a Community Trust. Yiaku Laikipiak Trust was formed from the necessity of exposing and addressing the need for recognition and assistance on ensuring survival of the Yiaku indigenous peoples and local communities’ culture and habitat.
Since inception, YLT’s long-term priority is the revival of Yiaku language, Protection of Mukogodo Forest, Indigenous Knowledge and livelihood support for the Yiaku people.
The Yiaku People are a Cushitic tribe that migrated from Ethiopia in the 14^th Century and settled in Mukogodo Forest in Laikipia North District in Kenya. They are a minority indigenous community with a population of about 6,000 people.
The Yiaku have maintained their culture, bushmeat hunting is illegal and the Yiaku seized hunting but remained with herding and gathering.
The Yiaku have lived in harmony with the Forest time immemorial since their traditional practices do not encourage logging and the building of permanent shelters in the Forest. They have sacred sites and ancestral graves and derive honey, wild fruits and vegetable from the Forest for a living.