Strengthening Resilience Among Agro Pastoralists for Enhanced Livelihoods

The issue

In Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot Counties of Kenya, there is growing evidence that climate change has heightened conflict and fragility by creating food and livelihood insecurity, increasing competition over resources such as water and land, forcing people to migrate and reinforcing patterns of marginalization and exclusion.

In turn, marginalized groups, especially unemployed youth, are attracted to non-state armed and/or groups that threaten national, regional, and even global stability. Consequently, climate change has increasingly come to be recognized as a “threat multiplier” — a variable that aggravates simultaneously occurring environmental, social, economic, and political pressures and stressors. As a threat multiplier, it compounds existing tensions, which easily escalate into violence or disrupt fragile peace processes. This in turn leaves communities poorer, less resilient, and ill-equipped to cope with climate change impacts.

The project

Anglican Development Services North Rift Region (ADS – NR), in partnership with DCA, is implementing a project aimed at improving the resilience of communities to drought and other effects of climate change in Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot counties. The project targets poor marginalized and vulnerable groups through interventions organized around Common Interest Groups (CIGs).

ADS-NR focuses on building inclusive and effective governance structures to manage conflicts while ensuring a more cooperative and effective use of joint natural resources, especially at the community level.

ADS– NR is also seeking to build sustainable livelihoods of communities, increasing their capacity to cope with both conflict and climate-related shocks and stresses. This includes advising farmers on suitable crop varieties for the different zones given the prevailing conditions and supporting farmers to design and adopt relevant technologies.

The change

ADS–NR anticipates that household food security will improve through the adoption of climate resilient technologies in four sub-counties. Complementary to this, communities’ resilience will be built through the skilling to engage in economically viable and environmentally sustainable initiatives in a peaceful environment. Lastly, through the engagement of CIGs, it is anticipated that there will be climate change-responsive legal policy frameworks in both counties.

The results

This is the fourth year that the STRAPEL project, targeted at different community members, is under implementation.

In the past two years, 6,529 vulnerable members of the community in West-Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet Counties have been reached as project participants.

In the period 2023 – 2024, it is anticipated that 6,400 households in Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot Counties will be reached.

Partner

Anglican Development Services- North Rift Region (ADS-NR) was established in 1984, as the development arm of the Anglican Church of Kenya. It comprises Dioceses of Eldoret, Kitale and Kapsabet, Kapenguria, and the Lodwar Missionary Area and covers the six counties – Elgeyo-Marakwet, Nandi, Trans Nzoia, Turkana, Uasin-gishu and West Pokot. Its establishment was a deliberate effort to differentiate development services from the clerical aspects of the Church to achieve clarity and efficiency on development matters.

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