Project title: Strengthening Livelihoods of Rural Agro-Pastoralists in Kitui County
Funded by: European Union (EU)
Co-funded by: Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS)
Lead agency: European Committee for Training and Agriculture (CEFA) Onlus
Country: Kenya
Overall term: 2015 to 2019
Water scarcity is a critical constraint to Kenya’s socio-economic development and its achievement of Kenya’s Vision 2030 as well as the global development agenda detailed in the Sustainable Development Goals. The situation is exacerbated by climate change and increasing water demand due to population growth and urbanisation.
In 2015, CEFA Onlus launched the project “Strengthening Livelihoods of Rural Agro-Pastoralists in Kitui East sub-County, Kitui County, Kenya” to deliver rapid economic benefits and income diversification to smallholder farmers by diversifying production, improving access to water, and improving access to markets as surpluses increased. The project mobilized and worked directly with groups of water users to construct twenty sand dams and worked extensively with farmers’ groups to build technical capacities, increase agricultural production and
disseminate soil and water conservation measures. It has linked producers committees and CBOs with traders and trained groups on financial literacy and business management.
The project was awarded a funding contract by the Italian Cooperation in June 2015 and another funding contract by the European Union under the ProDEL Programme in May 2016. Our experts have provided external monitoring & evaluation of the program and feasibility studies for future developments.