Project to assist communities in income generating activities



The Sengwer community during the meeting



Mr. Richard Ndiwa, Mr. Thomas Wasike, Mr. David Omoto, and Mr. Kitti during the budget meeting on the 7th November 2011.



On the 9^th November 2011, the Natural Resource Management project (NRM) officers together with government officers presented to the community the enterprise plans developed on ideas presented to NRM teams during wider community consultation meetings held in villages. The community joyfully accepted them and its all systems go to the next step, which is training them on handling and effective implementation of the projects of their choice. This will be done through groups. The meeting, that took place at the Sengwer Cultural Centre, was led by the District Livestock Development Officer Mr. Richard Ndiwa, assisted by Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups Coordination Committee (VMGCC) Chairman Transnzoia, Mr. David Yator.

This was after various meetings held before, including one on 7^th November to which government officers supported by the Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups Coordination Committee (VMGCC) and NRM officers meet to package the various project proposals.

The packages included a comprehensive budget of how the enterprise funds will be spent and how much input the various groups be expected to make in playing their part for the project to be a success. Such includes manual labor and locally available materials.

 This was the third step of a three-step process beginning which begun when NRM first meet up with the community to receive enterprise ideas.  The community came up with a couple of project ideas in the livestock, forestry and agricultural sectors. Some of those projects included dairy (cattle and goat) projects, poultry keeping, bee keeping, tea planting and passion fruit growing. Others include growing of tissue culture banana, construction of green houses, tree nurseries, and commercial tree planting.

The aim of the project is to promote a positive shift from dependence on forests for income to reliance on other sustainable and productive livelihood methods, as well as promotion community participation in the protection of forests.

Article and pictures by Angela Wairimu