Self Help Africa’s Plant the Planet Games GAA trip to Kenya has been shortlisted for a prestigious fundraising campaign of the year award, by the Charities Institute Ireland.

The Plant the Planet Games saw 50 Irish inter-county players from across Gaelic football, hurling and camogie travel to on a week-long trip to Kenya. The trip featured the all-star inter county mixed male and female GAA matches played in Africa. Participating players raised funds to plant one million trees. The first trees were planted during the Kenya trip. Players also visited Self Help Africa projects in the country.

The Plant the Planet Games raised an incredible half a million euro in sponsorship support. Now, the initiative has been nominated in the ‘Fundraising Campaign of the Year’ category at this year’s Charity Excellence Award.

Organised by Self Help Africa in collaboration with former Galway All-Ireland winner Alan Kerins’ Warriors for Humanity, the Plant the Planet Games will be reprised in 2023, when a group of 50 Gaelic Games stars will pay a return visit to Kenya.  

The trip was supported by the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA), whose chief executive Tom Parsons was amongst the sports stars to travel. The exhibition match in Kenya was attended by an array of invited guests including Irish ambassador Fionnuala Quinlan, and Kenyan world record holding athlete David Rudisha.