Activities

Vision- A knowledge driven society. 

Mission - To improve the livelihoods of arid lands communities in East Africa through delivery of practical information using modern technologies.

Activities of ALIN

I.            Agricultural Information – ALIN has over 20 years experience targeting grassroots communities with practical and usable information through multimedia tools. It collaborates with The AgriCultures Network (www.leisa.info) to produce Baobab magazine and other media to build knowledge, exchange information and stimulate debate and concerted action among key stakeholders. In this way we promote sustainable family farming, stressing its capacity to address hunger, poverty, environmental degradation and climate change.

II.            Climate Change – ALIN recognizes that climate change is happening and will increasingly affect the poor people and therefore works towards improving access to good quality information and knowledge on climate change adaptation practices using publications and web 2.0 tools. Joto Afrika is a series of printed briefings and online resources that communicates information about climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa. It features summaries of African research, community case studies and other relevant information, all presented in a clear and accessible style. The series is produced in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) of the University of Sussex, UK and Afrika Adapt.

III.            Market Linkages – In order to support farmers to access better markets for their produce, ALIN has been piloting Sokopepe (www.sokopepe.co.ke) an online commodity exchange platform in Ng’arua Maarifa Centre. The aim is to support agricultural producers to access more efficient and effective markets by making their products more visible and easy to find at the national level. Sokopepe is an integrated supply chain solution that collects agricultural commodity information from the field and disseminates it to end users via various media, including SMS, WAP, e-mail and the Web. It integrates a payment mechanism whereby users can pay for commodities via mobile money transfer. 

IV.            Capacity building – ALIN is building community’s capacity to adopt and use improved farming technologies like drip irrigation; a method of watering plants with single drops of water at a time. The set up consists of tapes with very small outlets that let out water one drop at a time wetting the soil around the plants roots. Community member’s especially young people are trained on computer skills to enable the join the world of Information and Communication Technology. 

V.            Free Access to Information – Recognizing that access to information is a basic human right, ALIN is  

      committed to the concept of free access to information and knowledge. All members of the  

      community, many who live in remote arid lands of Laikipia county, receive information from ALIN’s   

      Maarifa (Knowledge) centres freely without discrimination. We repackage needed information as suit 

      the user as necessary. Measures are put in place to ensure that all community members: women, men, 

      young women, young men, children and persons with disabilities access the information and technologies 

      that they need. Outreach activities like field days, open days, are organized to target communities  

     outside the centre and especially women who are not very free to visit the centre as frequently as men.