Kenya - David Gitari - 2015 Graduate

Anglican Development Services Mt. Kenya East

Building Resilience in Tigania, Kenya

Annual Report: April 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019

https://gyazo.com/ef5d500e3155d672d6ec4f7d96c988cc

The Anglican Development Services of Mt. Kenya East (ADSMKE) worked with two communities, Tharicia and TuongoTweru in the Tigania East Sub-County, with the aim of enhancing food security through improved production for better food security of households throughout the year.

The activities implemented have contributed to improving the food security situation of the targeted households through these outcomes:

1. Diversification of household sources of income

2. Promotion of agricultural methods that mitigate the risk of crop failure related to drought

3. Promotion of better stewardship of water, soil, and forest resources

4. Creating awareness of appropriate feeding and nutrition practices for young children

5. Sensitizing Households on appropriate hygiene and sanitation practices, and better access to clean water

Outcome 1

Through the creation of Village Savings and Loaning Associations (VSLAs) and VSLA activities, the project trained members from the Tharicia and Tuongo Tweru group on the VSLA methodology including VSLA principles, record keeping, and leadership skills. After the trainings, members are now using the VSLA approach to building their savings. Many participants have used a loan from their VSL group to invest in an income generating activity that is environmentally sustainable (since the project started). A number of other VSL groups that have established an account with a formal financial institution and have accessed services, resources or funding from a local government department.

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Village Savings and Loan Association mobilization and member recruitment session in Tharacia

Outcome 2

This was a new project site and this activity started by introducing the concept of the Farmer Field School (FFS) methodology to the community and two new Farmer Field Schools where established. The communities then selected five people to be trained as FFS facilitators. Three residential trainings were conducted where five members and trained farmers gained knowledge on FFS concept that includes:

Group recruitment

Village immersion

Leadership roles in FFS

Organization and management of FFS

FFS exit strategy

Agro-ecosystem analysis (AESA)

Role of the FFS facilitators

From the training, two outreach site demonstrations were established, one in Tharicia and one in Tuongo Tweru which are ready to be planted in October 2018 for the short rains. As a result, farmers are practicing the three principles of conservation agriculture (minimum tillage, covering the soil, and crop rotation), using drought tolerant seeds, facilitators have been trained to teach others conservation agriculture and demonstration plots have been established.

Outcome 3

During this reporting period, the project was able to support Tharicia community to establish one community tree nursery. The project also sourced for 500 tree seedlings and distributed these to the two groups Tharacia and Tuongo Tweru that will be planted during the rainy season.

https://gyazo.com/326e1cfcbc827f722ab598dfe7d88fd5

Tree seedlings to be planted in the rainy season

Outcome 4

Six trainings were conducted and members from the two community groups were trained on healthy eating habits to prevent lifestyle diseases and meal preparation using local food items of high nutrition value. The trainings were followed with two cooking demonstrations in collaboration with an officer from the public health department who showed the preparation of balanced diets using indigenous foods, like green bananas, lablab beans, potatoes and green vegetables, without destroying their nutritive value. Within the community, it is believed that women who take water after delivery compromise the nutritional value of the food they eat, but this notion was corrected during the demonstrations and trainings. The project used IEC materials for creating awareness and educating the communities on nutrition.

https://gyazo.com/072137e2b7cc356719f1dd615ae1ddd9

Community health workers giving a nutrition cooking demonstration at Tharacia

Outcome 5

The project did six trainings on proper hygiene practices. Of these, three trainings where done in Tharacia and they invited other groups in the area to join. Two more trainings were conducted at TuongoTweru. The groups were trained on proper hand washing practices, proper waste disposal, and water treatment for domestic use.

https://gyazo.com/c8a90014bf8e6febd259313164d6c9a4

A public health officer training on water and sanitation in Tuongo Tweru

The trained participants resolved to sensitize their communities to take household and personal hygiene seriously, as most of the latrines in the homesteads are currently not in good condition. To contribute towards access to safe and potable water, the project supported 100 households from Tharacia and Tuongo Tweru groups with 100-liter water tanks for water storage.

As a result, more households were using improved drinking water sources, such as protected wells, piped water, water harvested through roof catchment, using proper water treatment methods to purify drinking, using improved sanitation facilities. Additionally, new water access points as well as latrines were installed.

Lessons learned

Our successes

Organizing farmers/households into VSLA groups

Growing diverse food crops and integration of crop and livestock production

Facilitating and supporting farming households to organize themselves into Farmer Field Schools

From these successes, we have learned that through Farmer Field Schools, it is easy to reach more farmers and to give them a chance to learn together and share their experiences. In addition, a good mix of different crops and livestock species ensure improved production regardless of the amount of rains. Animals provide manure and crop residues provide feed for the livestock, contributing to the resilience of the food production system

Our Challenges

Long dry spells in the area

Short project time with the community (one year per community)

Lack of mulching materials and their use by livestock

We have learned that there needs to be more strategies to ensure households have access water throughout the year and that they can grow crops even during the dry spell. Furthermore, we should be with a community for longer than one year to have a greater impact, and there should be an increase of sources of mulching materials. Therefore, going forward, we will provide support to households with water storage tanks, stay with one community for at least two years before exiting, and promote the increase of fast growing fodder crop species and agro-forestry for more availability of vegetative materials to be used as mulch.

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