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 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.