Improved Community Drought Response and Resilience (ICDRR)
Project Facts
VSF Suisse (EC/FAO-Kenya funding); implemented in collaboration with VSF-Germany working in Marsabit County.
Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Suisse; Muthangari Road, off Gitanga Road; P.O. Box 25656-00603 Nairobi-Kenya; Davis Ikiror: Mob: + 254 733 605 173; [email protected] | www.vsf-suisse.org
Case overview/description
• Poor management of natural resources
• Land degradation due to overgrazing • Weak or no Natural Resource Management (NRM) by-laws in the community • Insecurity
• Recurrent droughts
Objective:
- To increase resilience of pastoral communities through strengthened community-based rangeland management and asset building in the pilot site of Merti.
Expected results: - Targeted communities develop and implement grazing plans as standard management practice.
- Targeted communities collectively test for appropriate decisions relevant to land management in moving towards realizing their vision. - Improvement in community unity and ability to act collectively - Improvement in natural resource governance - Training of 20 people from orgainizations and local authorities on Holistic Rangeland Management.
According to Isiolo County Integrated Development Plan (2013 - 2017);
- 80% of land is communally owned
- 10% of land is under the government (e.g Schools, Administration, Health facilities etc)
- 10% is under private ownership (e.g housing, Industrial and commercial purpose).
- Majority of the inhabitants practice nomadic pastoralism
- Small scale Intensive dairy production. - Ranches e.g Borana ranch has indigenous trees and species of birds.
- Wildlife ( e.g Hippo, Lions, Leopards, Ostrich, Monkeys, Giraffes, Buffalos, elands, Impala, Zebra etc)
- Free market
- There are livestock markets in Merti, Isiolo, Garbatulla, Kinna, Modogashe and Oldonyiro. Livestock traders (buyers) mainly travel from Meru, Nairobi and Coast region.
Local authorities, Community leaders, elders, grazing management committees, Community facilitators, Government of Kenya extension staff, Partner organizations (MID-P etc).
• Knowledge Attitudes and practice (KAP) baseline survey
• Trainings of Field Resouce Team (FRT)
• Formation of Grazing Committees
• Community Action Plans on HNRM
• Trainings on HNRM for community resource persons, grazing management committees and communities
• Implementation of Grazing Plans
• Study tour to successful HNRM sites in Laikipia.
• Field and information days.
• Review of Community Action Plans, Mentoring and Monitoring,
Outcome/ Beneficiaries/ Issues
- Improved livestock productivity and sales.
- Use of Holistic Natural Resource Management (HNRM) minimized livestock mortality during the drought/dry spell.
• Reduced Natural resource based conflicts with neighbouring communities.
• Increased knowledge on HNRM.
• Community ability to make collective decision making
• Acceptance of planned grazing practice in the community.
- Improved rangeland health
- Improved rangeland pasture qualityand plant density
- Knowledge exchange: among community members, community facilitators, NGO staff, Field Resource Teams (e.g County Government extension staff and other implementing partners etc).
- Knowledge exchange promoted through field day, information day, extension services, on-site demonstration, trainings on principles of Holistic Planned Grazing, study tour, monitoring visits etc.
- Conflicts over natural resources as a result of influx of pastoralists from neighbouring Counties, especially the border areas of Wajir West Sub-County (Hadado area) and Samburu County.
• Planned grazing and animal impact have the ability to address the challenges of rangeland degradation in pastoral communities
• Planned grazing minimize conflicts over pasture resources.
• It is important to keep herders motivated as they play a critical role in restricting livestock movement during bunched grazing.
- Holistic Natural resouce management
- Field Resource Teams
- Community Action Plans.
- Planned grazing