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Kenya: Increase Community Resilience to Drought in Makueni District

Pilot Project Profile

Drought events associated with climate variability and climate change have become more pronounced in Kenya in recent years, particularly affecting its agricultural production—the main livelihood activity of most Kenyans. By working with a small community in the mixed farming area of Mbooni East District (formerly part of Makueni District), the Kenya pilot project is implementing actions that are reducing the vulnerability of farming communities to current climate variability and long-term climate change. The pilot project aims to increase household food security, reduce poverty through improved livelihoods, and facilitate the integration of adaptation to climate change into policies related to disaster management and the sustainable development of arid and semi-arid lands.

Activities being undertaken at the community level include: downscaling of climate forecasts and communicating them to farmers in a way that has relevance to their needs; diversifying production systems by promoting drought-escaping crops and enhancing community capacity in seed bulking; strengthening the credit system for self-help groups to allow generation of new income activities; and improving access to water through the construction of sand dams and the introduction of drip irrigation. Lessons learned through these activities have been integrated into the regional activities of the Arid Lands Resource Management Project. They have also been used to influence the development of Kenya's National Disaster Management Policy and the policies of Kenya's Ministry of Northern Kenya and Arid Lands.

Local executing agency: Centre for Science and Technology Innovations with the Arid Lands Resource Management Project.

Publications

• Preparing for Climate Change in Kenya (PDF – 1.8 MB)
  This brochure provides a summary of the outcomes of the Kenya pilot project Increasing Community Resilience to Drought in Makueni District as of December 2008.

• More Information for Better Planning (PDF – 169 KB)
  This article appeared in the December 2008 issue of LEISA. Written by Cynthia Awuor, the article details how the ACCESA pilot project in Sakai, Kenya, is using downscaled weather forecasts and a cropping calendar to increase the resiliency of local agricultural practices to the greater risk of climate change–induced drought.

Presentations

• Influencing Policy on Climate Change from the Bottom Up: Increasing Community Resilience to Drought in Makueni District in Kenya (PDF – 2.2 MB)
  Dr. Maggie Opondo, University of Kenya, highlighted the successes of the ACCESA pilot project in Kenya with respect to upscaling project activities and influencing policy processes during the Development and Adaptation Days at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, COP 14, held December 7, 2008.

• Integrating Socio-economic Information and Community Capacity Building to Respond to Drought (PDF – 201 KB)
  Capturing the process and outcomes to date of the ACCESA project pilot study in Kenya, this presentation was made by Dr. Maggie Opondo, University of Kenya, at the Expert Group meeting on socioeconomic information held as part of the Nairobi Work Programme in Trinidad and Tobago in March 2008.

• Increasing Community Resilience to Drought in Makueni District, Kenya (PDF – 673 KB)
  Dr. Maggie Opondo, Centre for Science and Technology Innovation.

More information about this project is available on CSTI's project webpage.

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