Mathare Environmental Conservation Youth Group started in 1997 as a response to joblessness and pollution. A group of young football players noticed an opportunity to help keep the streets clean and create jobs doing it. By doing door to door garbage collection, residents no longer had to dispose of waste themselves and were willing to pay young community members to do it. Where once a mountain of garbage existed, now sits the Mathare One Stop Youth Centre, a lighthouse in the community of youth-led action and development.