Our Activities
Showcasing some of the activities we've been pursuing to help elevate grassroots women
Mobilization and community sensitization meetings
RWN held community sensitization meetings with communities in Kajiado county. The meetings targeted over 100 women spread across 8 groups, county government authorities, civil society organizations and the private sector agencies operating in the project area. The significance of deliberately targeting the specific interest groups was borne out of the need to ensure the local community ownership of climate adaptive mechanisms; continued advocacy and climate adaptive action, promote enabling policy and operational environment by the government agencies, and development and dissemination of climate adaptive technologies, innovations and management practices. Women in agro-pastoral communities forms an important part in managing adaptive climate mechanisms because they don’t migrate with the livestock in search of pastures.
RWN held 3 community sensitization meetings in August – September 2021. The meetings brought together civil society organizations including Agricultural Council of Kenya (AgCK), Agricultural Policy Development Institute (APDI) and Kenya Poultry Farmers Association. It held direct engagement meetings with the Governor; Kajiado county, Department of Agriculture and Livestock Development, ……… The private sector agencies included Agroforestry Association of Kenya, Advanta seeds.
The community meetings were important mechanisms to pass on climate information including definition of climate and climate change; impacts/evidence of climate change; adaptation and mitigation mechanisms; climate governance; and viable local adaptive mechanisms. During the meetings, RWN identified community members to be trained as climate champions/trainers of trainers (TOTS).
Members trained as Trainers of Trainers/Farmers (TOT/Fs)
Rural Women Network mobilized technical facilitators to equip the TOT/Fs with the requisite skills to steer the community towards the adoption and implementation of climate responsive activities.
We trained 24 TOTs in group dynamics (leadership and governance), local climate adaptation mechanisms including setting up of tree nurseries for locally adapted varieties, and Africa leavy vegetables (ALV) nurseries, planting of trees, landscape regeneration, rearing of small stocks (local poultry) and bee keeping.
With the support from technical facilitators, the identified trainers of trainers (TOTs) were also trained on the establishment of nurseries and multi-storey vegetable gardens. The training involved on-site class set up and participatory practical demonstrations. The TOTs trained 8 women groups from the project area during the months of November/December 2021 at the learning center. During the training, 8 multi-storey kitchen gardens were set up. The multi-storey gardens are conical-shaped made from high-density polythene (HDPE) materials. The HDPE materials are cut into different sizes and fastened using bolts and nuts to form circular rings with a diameter of 4ft and 6f. The materials used have a longer lifespan of over 10 years because they are ultraviolet-heat treated. The soil used is mixed with fine manure on a 1:1 ratio. The base of the garden is wider to make the multi-storey gardens stable. The storeys reduce in size by 2-4 inches upwards forming a pyramid-shaped structure with terraces that allow for the smooth flow of water downwards. The storeys rise to a maximum of 6 or 8 terraces from the ground and therefore, the farmer can grow different vegetables in each terrace. The conical multi-storey gardens can accommodate up to 120 vegetable plants with enhanced access to water and manure
Of the 24 TOTs, 6 have trained 80 women members of 8 groups and are in the processing of training the larger community on the skills gained.
Construction of nursery structures, kitchen gardens and tree nurseries at the identified sites
Construction of nurseries for raising vegetables and trees seedlings and kitchen gardens was an important activity in the center’s establishment. The grassroots’ women and their communities required knowledge and skills on setting up trees and vegetable nurseries that are adapted to the hot and dry local conditions. Flat beds and sunken beds were prioritized for this region. Setting up the nurseries and vegetable/kitchen gardens required mobilization of raw materials that included timber, high density polythene material, tubing and water storage tanks.
Rural Women Network (RWN) secured the necessary materials for the construction of nurseries, multi-storey vegetable gardens that comprised high density polythene material, hose pipes and water storage tank. Due to the high cost of procuring water storage, RWN bought and mounted a 5,000 liters water tank capacity for the nurseries and vegetable gardens.
Transfer vegetable seedlings for establishing kitchen gardens
During the training and establishment of the vegetable gardens at the center, RWN mobilized the seedlings from commercial plant nurseries for the purposes of training. The seedlings in the nurseries at the center were not ready for transplanting. African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs) or indigenous vegetables were prioritized because they are resilient to the hot and dry conditions. The multi-storey gardens were populated with the African Nightshade (managu) and amaranthus (terere) vegetable seedlings. ALVs in Africa vary within countries depending on market demand and their nutritional value. The most common varieties in Kenya include African Nightshade (managu), amaranthus (terere), spider plant (saget) and slender leaf (mitoo) among other popular traditional vegetables. https://ruraloutreachafrica.org/african-leafy-vegetables-project/ (Rural Outreach Africa, 2021). ALVs are known to be rich in vitamins, proteins, minerals and micronutrients such as selenium, zinc, potassium, beta-carotene, iron, folate, copper and iodine. They have also been found to have medicinal value in addressing illnesses such a diarrhea, eye and renal ailments, hypertension and even HIV/AIDs. (Khadudu F.; 2021). https://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/886044/. They are well-adapted to local conditions and can thrive at times of drought, when staple crops are likely to fail. Hence consumption of ALVs can improve nutrition and help meet food shortages. However, ALVs are currently harvested from the wild; meaning that smallholder households have no control over availability ALVs. Cultivation of ALVs would help enhance the environmental sustainability of smallholder farms. Increased crop diversity reduces pest and disease incidence, and the water use efficiency of ALVs provides resilience to climate change impacts and limited water availability. Furthermore, cultivation of ALVs can provide income opportunities for smallholders due to their high value. https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FR020345%2F1 (UKRI, 2021). Many indigenous African leafy vegetables contain higher levels of nutrients than commonly grown "exotic" species like Swiss chard, kale and cabbage. Important species consumed include spider plant (Cleome gynandra), African nightshades (Solanum scabrum/S. villosum/S. americanum/S. tarderomotum) and amaranths (Amaranthus blitum/A. dubius/A. hybrdus /A. spinosus). These vegetables are popular in cultural diets and have potential for increased production and use in areas where traditionally grown. https://horticulture.ucdavis.edu/project/increasing-production-indigenous-african-leafy-vegetables-kenya (Feed the Future, 2021) Rural Women Network (RWN) partnered with Advanta seeds Company and Premagrow Services to provide training on vegetable nursery management and production. They also supplied ALV seedlings which comprised include African Nightshade (managu), amaranthus (terere), and spider plant (saget) for planting on the multi-storey gardens during the training activities.
Follow up and backstopping
Follow up and backstopping are ongoing activities, designed to ensure that the learning center is being well managed. It also entails supporting the early adopters/individual women beneficiaries who are engaging in crops agriculture for the first time to establish and manage the multi-storey vegetable gardens at their individual households. Extension/advisory on good agricultural practices provides optimal results if undertaken regularly and repetitively.
RWN makes bi-monthly field visits to provide advisory services to the rural women and communities who adopted the technology. The visits are undertaken by agricultural extension experts and the technical facilitators. The TOTs from the locality being visited are incorporated in the follow up and backstopping activities to further enhance their capacities in provision of agricultural extension services to members of their groups and the community at large.
Monitoring and evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation are essential tools to determine progress of the project, take corrective action if needed and to address challenges, and to help inform future operations so that they are more efficient and cost-effective. RWN undertakes monthly project sites monitoring visits to monitor the progress of the evolving climate resilience learning center and technologies adoption by the communities. The visits are critical in supporting the communities continuous learning and to ensure successful delivery of the overall goal of climate resilient communities.
Our Impact
Showcasing how the efforts we've made so far have transformed the lives of grassroots women in Kenya
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