ADSE Kenya improves livelihoods with climate resilience and strong communities

Rising temperatures, volatile weather patterns, invasive crops and pests and increasing frequency of extreme weather events: All around the world, communities continue to feel the varied and devastating impacts of climate change. Many industries are suffering as a result of climate change’s affects, but one of the most vulnerable economic sectors is agriculture. Reduced crop yields, lowered nutritional value and decreased livestock productivity are all being attributed to climate change.

Mbitini and Mavindini are two wards in the arid and semi-arid lands of Lower Eastern Kenya. People here have traditionally survived off agriculture, but climate change is making it increasingly harder to earn a living. Frequent droughts, high costs of productivity and less effective farming techniques have left communities struggling with extreme poverty and food insecurity. Many have turned to other sources of income such as burning wood to make and sell charcoal and uncontrolled sand harvesting. These industries contribute to climate change further, eventually worsening outcomes for the agricultural industry in Lower Eastern Kenya.

To mitigate these compounding challenges and harmful outcomes, PWRDF has partnered with Anglican Development Services Eastern (ADSE) of the Anglican Church of Kenya to improve livelihoods in Mbitini and Mavindini. This three-year project will strengthen community by empowering women, youth and people living with disabilities. It will increase incomes among Mbitini and Mavindini’s most vulnerable populations and improve water accessibility through environmentally sustainable practices to enhance community climate change adaptation and resilience. PWRDF is supporting this project with $299,964 over three years.

Featured in the 2023 World of Gifts

Two ways that ADSE supports it community are being promoted in this year’s World of Gifts guide:
A solar-powered egg incubator typically serves a women’s groups of 20 women and their families. Diversification into poultry keeping is a safety net for nutritional security and income. The incubator provides women’s groups access to quality, fast-growing and disease-resistant chicks with negligible running costs. The chicks are sold to others to raise and earn further income or improve their family’s food security.

A solar-powered irrigation kit supports a women’s group of 20 and their families as they work to improve their food security, nutrition and income. The kit has minimal running costs and reduces the workload for women who would otherwise be drawing water into an elevated water tank to water vegetables and crops by gravity, instead of a pump.

Access to water in Mbitini and Mavindini is also a major challenge and the situation has continued to deteriorate. Currently, many community members – mostly women and children – must walk up to eight kilometers to get clean water for their families. A lack of water is a major contributing factor to extreme poverty because it indirectly limits a person’s access to food and employment.

This project will train local farmers in environmentally sustainable farming practices, including the installation of solar irrigation kits. Communities will also learn about animal-borne disease prevention and how to access and consume nutritious food through farmed crops. Self-help groups will also be formed within the participant-communities where group members will learn about gender and disability inclusion to protect the most vulnerable community members.  

This project is PWRDF’s first partnership with ADSE, whose mission is to transform communities and empower them to enjoy secure and sustainable livelihoods through participation.

In February 2023, PWRDF External Funding Program Manager, Richard Librock, travelled to Kenya to meet with ADSE staff. Librock witnessed ADSE’s work first-hand and met program participants. “I am really looking forward to learning from ADSE’s Integrated Initiatives for Sustainable Livelihoods project,” says Librock. “Just in rainwater harvesting alone, ADSE has so much experience and expertise in systems that include farm ponds, sand dams, rock and roof catchments, shallow wells and boreholes to improve the lives of farmers and their families.”

Recently, PWRDF staff in Canada also had the opportunity to meet ADSE staff on Zoom. ADSE Deputy Director, John Mutua, gave a presentation on ADSE’s history, mission and operations and shared more about their work on this project and in the region.

ADSE’s work often centres around improving livelihoods through food security initiatives (agriculture and income generation), water hygiene and sanitation, community health and nutrition, environmental conservation, climate change, governance and social inclusion.