Community Groups urged to be vibrant in development initiatives

By Samuel Nzioka

A joint meeting by Arid Lands Information Networks (ALIN) and Office of the Member Of county assembly, Sipili/Olmoran ward saw more than 150 Community groups representatives operating in Sipili/Olmoran ward convene at Catholic hall  to discuss issues affecting their development. The main agenda for the meeting was to identify the active self help groups, welfare groups,Community based organizations, NGOs and other development groups with an aim of looking for intervention strategies to help the groups to become more effective. Another agenda was to introduce FARMIS to wide range of stakeholders and create more momentum for farmer profiling.


 All group representatives were given opportunity to present their groups activities and achievements. Speaking during the meeting, Mr Kero, the ward administrator urged the groups to take advantage of devolution and apply for county funds through tenders and other grants. he also urged the youth and women to apply  for youth and women enterprise funds from the national government and not to just sit and wait. ALIN through  Ngarua Maarifa Centre  were tasked  to ensure the application forms are available to the willing  groups.

Mr. Noah Lusaka addressing the participants

Mr Noah Lusaka, ALINs project manager led the participants through ACT! project which has its main goal as 'enhancing community resilience to adapt to the impacts of climate change for improved livelihoods'. The project will focus on a series of community consultative meetings with an objective to lobby for development of climate change adaptation framework, enhance communities capacity to adapt climate smart Agricultural practices (CSAPs) for improved livelihoods and enhancing communities access to usable information and knowledge on climate change adaptation for increased resilience. He also urged the groups to write down their own profiles and forward them for future reference.

Participants were taken through FARMIS Kenya where they were urged to embrace farming as a business and focus on making profit from their enterprises. Speaking during the meeting, Mr. Samuel Mwangi urged the farmers to take advantage of the platform and manage their farms in prudent ways to avoid post harvest losses and make a business case.

Farmers also got an opportunity to interact with Juhudi Kilimo, a microfinace institution
supporting farmers to access asset based loans and basic finance training to smallholder farmers and enterprises that allow them to purchase wealth generating  financial solutions.