Implemented in remote rural regions of Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya, the Rural Women Cultivating Change (RWCC) project is shifting the cultural attitudes, systems and structures that limit the potential of young and adult rural women smallholder farmers, particularly female heads of households, and survivors of gender-based violence.

In Kenya, Rural Women Cultivating Change project is implemented in partnership with Grass Roots Organizations Together in Sisterhood (GROOTS), HIVOS East Africa (HIVOS), and Seed Savers Network Kenya (SSN). GROOTS, SSN and HIVOS are working together with their experience in leadership and mentorship programs to build on women’s sense of agency, increase women’s confidence through peer support and provide opportunities for women to undertake leadership roles.

Current project activities promote local knowledge-sharing opportunities between partners and community participants and prioritize collaborations with local women’s groups or groups where women have or need to have leadership positions. The partners in Kenya are addressing the underlying harmful social norms, attitudinal and societal barriers, and heightened care responsibilities that prevent women from fully participating in development activities. The teams are working together to advocate for the enforcement of social protection laws and policies that prevent SGBV.

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The main objective of this project is to mainstream cooking policy frameworks and advocate for increased budget allocation for implementation of clean cooking programs. The long term goal of the project is to contribute to improved service provision by government and private sector through inclusive policies and budgets and to facilitate an enabling environment for increased adoption of clean cook stores and fuels in Kenya .

Partner - SNV (Netherlands Development Organization)

Beneficiaries -Kitui, Kilifi and Kiambu Counties.

Accelerating Rural Women Access to agricultural markets and trade is a development project with an objective to contribute to women’s economic empowerment and improved live hoods through enhanced agricultural production and access to markets.

The first face of the project started in May 2012 and ended in March 2017 where 3500 rural women living in vulnerable circumstances in Nakuru and Kitui counties were successful organized into 133 common interest groups with an aim of equipping them with relevant knowledge and skills as well as enhance their leadership and organizational capabilities to enable them become drivers of their own social economic transformation.

up-to date the project has been able to achieve

• 3,500 women organized in 131 registered and functional farmers groups along the value chains
• 60 grassroots women trained as community advocacy champions to lead the lobby and advocacy along the value chains.
• Engagement of national & county stakeholders by the advocacy teams for the provision of essential services using project fact sheets. Improved infrastructure (roads, health facilities, markets& schools)
• 110 grassroots women has ascended to local decision making & leadership positions through the project.
• 237 community resource persons (coaches) trained to support ongoing capacity enhancement among farmers in production and agribusiness
• Enhanced uptake of technologies and proper farm management by women farmers
• Increased yields (milk 5-15 litres more per cow/day), increased poultry production (5 to 50 birds per farm)
• Successful collective marketing.10 premium agribusinesses established
• 80% of the women farmers and all CIG hold savings in bank accounts. Self-mobilized group resources utilized in purchasing of materials for constructing farm management units and farm inputs
• Subsidized loans/funds worth $ 1,138,000 disbursed to individual farmers and farmer groups through the “Financing grassroots women concept”
• Web-based project, farmer-fed management information system (MIS) operationalized to monitor progress at farm level
• 90 trained women farmers to monitor progress using a mobile application.100 android tablets provided by the project to collect enterprise data

Project objective - To equip women with relevant knowledge and skills as well as enhance their leadership and organizational capabilities to enable them to become drivers of their own social and economic transformation in Nakuru and Kitui Counties with a focus on the dairy, horticulture & indigenous chicken value chain. The project plans to contribute to women farmers’ economic empowerment and improve livelihoods through improved agricultural production and access to markets

Partners - JSDF (Japan Social Development fund) and WORLD BANK

Beneficiaries - More than 3,500 rural households in Nakuru County and Kitui County

GROOTS Kenya with support from SNV is implementing the Voices for Change Programme that aims at strengthening capacities of CSOs to advocate for an enabling environment in Renewable Energy. The focus is to facilitate an enabling environment for increased adoption of clean Cook Stoves and Fuels in Kenya starting with Kitui County.  GROOTS Kenya is helping relevant County Governments to mainstream clean cooking in County policy frameworks, and are advocating for increased budget allocation for implementation of clean cooking programs. Clean cooking champions have been identified in the 40 wards of Kitui to lobby policy makers to achieve the project goal. Additionally, the champions are also taking lead advocating for the adoption of clean cooking technologies among fellow community members either by constructing the clean cook stoves for them or by linking them to other institutions who can facilitate the construction or purchase of clean cook stoves.

So far, GROOTS Kenya has engaged in initial dialogues with officials from the County Government Department of Environment and Energy to pave way for further discussions on mainstreaming clean cooking technologies.

GROOTS Kenya in partnership with Equal Measures 2030 is working with grassroots women and relevant stakeholders in Kenya to advocate for gender responsive Medium Term Plans and County Integrated Development Plans. Both the MTP111 and CIDPs are currently under development.  Gender Equality Champions trained under this project are spearheading community-led monitoring of the implementation using an agreed set of indicators.

To kick start the project, GROOTS Kenya developed the SDGs Monitoring Framework to equip grassroots women and their communities with the capacity and evidence to monitor progress on the localization of agenda 2030 by national and local governments with a key focus on gender equality.

GROOTS Kenya further trained 42 trainers of trainers who will in turn train other community members on the SDGs to create a critical mass of gender equality champions in Kiambu, Kakamega and Laikipia Counties.

The champions have already selected 12 goals, 23 targets and 25 indicators to monitor, against the 17 global goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators. Their selections are based on the priority needs within their communities.

The data collected will be the basis on which the advocacy begins.

Partners-EQUAL MEASURES

Beneficiaries - 5 counties: Kitui, Nakuru, Laikipia, Kiambu and Kakamega.