Details

Written by Super User

Category: SEKU - ASALI Project Linkages

Published: 03 July 2019

Hits: 1333

Theme: Use of Sustainable Natural Resource Management Strategies to Enhance Water and Food security for Sustainable Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers
Component Lead: Osir Otteng

Activity One

Activity Title: Capacity Building in Forage Conservation Techniques: Silage and HayProduction

Sub-Activity - Media Publicity

Background

The first two activities proposed herein are based on the ASALI Project’s belief that information and knowledge are key in its overall goal of empowering the communities within which it runs its activities. The third activity draws its relevance from the Project’s principal interest in building capacity and equipping the human capital involved in driving the overall agenda with the necessary knowledge and skills to optimally contribute to fostering a sustainable livelihood among the communities within the Project operates.
It is recognised that well-coordinated packaging, processing and dissemination of information related to the planning, implementation and uptake of the Project’s activities to a wide spectrum of beneficiaries and stakeholders will immensely contribute to the appreciation and understanding by donors and donor groups, beneficiaries and other key stakeholders of the Project’s intentions and final achievements.
This will, in turn, create an opportunity for successful utilization and absorption of the Project’s funds, and help achieve the main objective of improving the quality of life and living conditions with a better access to basic human needs.
Although the ASALI-Kenya Project in general, and SEKU-ASALI Project in particular has done considerably well in developing mechanisms for alleviating human suffering through well-focused projects that target fundamental life-touching activities in key areas such as water, rangeland, mineral resources, livestock and environmental, there exits knowledge gap among key stakeholders with regard to the dissemination of these activities to the general public.
The traditional mass communication media – radio, television and newspapers – and, lately the social media - have been heralded as important vehicles for highlighting development activities in ways that do not only open up such activities to public knowledge and scrutiny, but also expose them to other areas and people for possible replication. These fist two activities will, thus, focus on the two aspects of media activities. The mass media publicity programme seeks to publicize ASALI Project activities mainly to the Kenya public, but also, though social network, to key ASALI Project stronghold viz. The Netherlands, where it is domiciled. The documentary on its part, is aimed to reach a wide range of audience through physical distribution as well as through sharing on social media platforms.
The Media Publicity activity propose to profile the various projects of SEKU-ASALI in a section of print and electronic media. In both cases, a team of selected journalists will be conducted on a guided tour of specific ASALI projects.
The journalists will carry out interviews with project implementers particularly the Activity Leads, who will give the technical insights into the specific activities, bringing out how they fit within the broad framework of ASALI livelihood improvement.
Further, guided by each activity-specific Lead and the SEKU media communication expert, the team of journalists will interview the various beneficiaries of each activity with a view to getting their perspectives on the projects, particularly how the projects have impacted on their livelihoods both at family and community levels.
A specific number of activities will be visited for profiling per quarter, care being taken to ensure that all of them are given exposure by the end of the 2019 activity period.

Objectives

Overall Objective

The main objective of the SEKU-ASALI Publicity (PP) is to raise public awareness on all activities undertaken by all sub-projects for the 2019 implementation period, thereby attracting public interest, encouraging public identification with Project.

Sub-Objectives

The activity has three sub-objectives, namely to:

• Draw public attention and raise community awareness about the SEKU-ASALI activities and accomplishments.
• Draw the interest of potential beneficiaries, informing them of the existing possibilities of engaging with the SEKU-ASALI Project in livelihood improving activities
• Provide the donor group with a public account of the utilization of their funds and how the funds are making impact on the ground.

Sub-Activity - Production of SEKU-ASALI Promotional Video/Documentaryand Branded Items

Background

This activity proposes to document all the activities so for undertaken by the SEKU-ASALI Project in an audio-visual. It also seeks to produce branded items to be used, particularly in the filed by the Project’s staff. A professional firm with a specialized television cameraman will be hired to work with the Activity Lead in the production of a 25 to 30-minute video documentary. The team will visit the field to shoot completed and on-going SEKU-ASALI projects. To guide the shooting, the Activity Lead will develop a script detailing the SEKU-ASALI Project background and activities.

The team will conduct interviews with Project activity implementers and beneficiaries. Project implementers, particularly the Activity Leads will give the technical insights into the specific activities bringing out how they fit within ASALI broad framework of ASALI livelihood improvement. Further, guided by the activity lead as the SEKU media communication expert, the team of journalists will interview the various beneficiaries of the each activity with a view to getting their perspectives on the projects, with specific focus on how the Project has changed their livelihoods.The team will also use existing shots of the various projects of SEKU-ASALI and compile a compressive documentary. The end product of this activity will be distributed to stakeholders, including project beneficiaries, donors, implementers and the general public, in DVCs, and through social media platforms such as You Tube, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc.

Activity Objectives

Overall Objective

The main objective of the SEKU-ASALI Documentary is to help profile the completed and ongoing SEKU-ASALI Project with a view to showcasing what the Project has so far accomplished.

Sub-Objectives

The activity has three sub-objectives, namely to:

• draw the attention of all stakeholder including donors, beneficiaries and the general public to the SEKU-ASALI Project’s activities;
• create interest among potential beneficiaries and partners in the activities of the SEKU-ASALI Projects with a view to creating possibilities of engaging with the SEKU-ASALI Project in livelihood improving activities
• provide the donor group with a public account of the utilization of their funds and how the funds are making impact on the ground.
• create visibility for the SEKU-ASALI Project through branded items

Details

Written by Super User

Category: SEKU - ASALI Project Linkages

Published: 03 July 2019

Hits: 1323

Theme: Use of Sustainable Natural Resource Management Strategies to Enhance Water and Food security for Sustainable Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers
Component Lead: Dr. Patrick Kisangau

Activity One

Activity Title: Ecological assessment of High Value Multipurpose woody species diversity within the Traditional Agroforestry Systems in South Eastern Kenya

Activity Rationale

The proposed activities focus on ecological survey to establish diversity of high value multipurpose woody trees and shrub species(HVMTs) in traditional agroforestry systems in South Eastern Kenya, while contributing to the overall ASALI thematic area on Use of Sustainable Natural Resource Management Strategies to Enhance Water and Food security for Sustainable Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers. High value multipurpose woody trees and shrubs are trees that are used for either one but very “important” purpose and/or has more than one use, and can either be planted or wild. They form a vital part of the ecosystem especially in the arid and semi-arid areas (ASAL) in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa. They support a variety of local livelihoods, providing a wide range of goods and services. HVMTs on farms help build farmers’ resilience to environmental, climate and weather-related stress by supplying additional food, fodder and alternative sources of income.

Population growth and environmental degradation on forest ecosystems lead to loss of forest area, habitat fragmentation, soil degradation, and biodiversity losses. Of international concern is to find alternative farming systems that are ecologically and economically sustainable as well as culturally acceptable to local communities. Agroforestry systems are known to bring about changes in edaphic, microclimatic, floral, faunal, and other components of the ecosystem through biorecycling of mineral elements, environmental modifications, and changes in floral and faunal composition. Traditional agroforestry practices which include crop shade tree systems, scattered trees on the farm land, home gardens, woodlots, farm boundary practices, and trees on grazing lands form a critical component of preserving and managing plant biodiversity and a source of livelihood to many local communities.
The main objective of the activity is therefore to determine ecological diversity of HVMTs within the traditional agroforestry systems in south eastern Kenya.

Sub-Objectives

1. Determine the status of use of high value woody tree and shrub species in South Eastern Kenya
2. Establish in ex-situ, selected high value woody species germplasm at the university botanic garden
3. Determining diversity and encroachment levels of HVMTs
4. Adopt into farming systems priority high value woody tree species

Sub-Activities

1. Interviews with local farmers on important high value woody plant species occurring in their farming systems
2. Botanical inventories to determine plant diversity
3. Geospastial mapping on distribution of the identified high value woody species
4. Collection of voucher specimens
5. Taxonomic identification in the herbarium
6. Cultivating the collected high value woody species in the university botanic garden and in the community gardens
7. Contacting sensitization workshops on high value woody species
8. Farmer exchange visits

Dissemination

Dissemination of findings will begin by sensitizing farmers in selected pilot localities within the project area of Kitui, Machakos and Kajiado counties. This will be guided by participatory-based prioritization of high value woody plant species by the local community in the study area. Dissemination will also be strengthened by setting up demonstration plots of high value woody species at the university and community gardens. These will act as hands-on skill and technology transfer contact points on matters of good agronomic practices, including sustainable harvesting techniques for the selected priority high value woody species. Farmer exchange visits to established tree planting nurseries like KEFRI, Kitui station among others will be encouraged. Other dissemination channels will include scientific papers, exposure to field experiments, workshops and seminars, radio and television, print media, news releases, pamphlets and brochures.

Details

Written by Super User

Category: SEKU - ASALI Project Linkages

Published: 03 July 2019

Hits: 1214

Theme: Use of Sustainable Natural Resource Management Strategies to Enhance Water and Food security for Sustainable Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers
Component Lead: Dr. Charles Ndungu, PhD Environmental Science

Activity One

Activity Title: Assessment of vulnerability of pastoralist, agro-pastoralist and agriculturist farmers to changing climate along the study transect

Activity Rationale

Vulnerability studies are important in providing information required in supporting policy driven or planned adaptation. This is because the success of policy-driven adaptation depends on the understanding of the system’s vulnerability to climate change and variability. This is key in identifying vulnerable regions or sectors and prioritizing resource allocation for adaptation, in line with ASALI project activities. Further, it comes in handy in recommending adaptation measures for specific regions and sectors (Fussel and Klein 2006). Consequently, the proposed study will adduce useful information in identifying vulnerable livelihoods, especially among agriculturist, agro-pastoralism and pastoralism, sectors and localities in the study area which will be pivotal in formulation of corresponding adaptation strategies.

Main Objective

To assess agro-pastoralist, agriculturist and pastoralist farmers’ vulnerability to climate change and variability in Kitui, Machakos and Kajiado counties of Kenya;

Sub-Objectives

1. Determine spatial variability of household level vulnerability to climate change and variability in the study area.
2. Develop a predictive model for assessing household level vulnerability to climate change and variability in the study area
3. Suggest some policy actions to address household level vulnerability to climate change and variability in the study area based on the study findings

Sub-Activities

1. Working out the indices on the basis of the vulnerability indicators, localities, livelihoods and agro-ecological zones
2. Identify biophysical and socio-economic drivers of vulnerability
3. Produce maps on spatial vulnerability of the study area

Dissemination

The dissemination of findings will follow the ASALI propagation strategy that has been intentionally developed to broadcast knowledge accrued from the component activities researches. In efforts to communicate knowledge to target audiences so that it may be used to lead to change, the activity will continuously identify recipients of potential adopters through an assessment of climate of readiness for change and, enabling transfer of activity outcomes. This will take care of the challenge to improve the accessibility of desired knowledge products by those they are intended to reach. Dissemination will overall take the following forms:

1. Scientific Papers
2. Exposure to Field experiments
3. Outreach Activities
4. Stakeholder Participation
5. Workshops and Seminars
6. Radio and Television
7. Print Media
8. News Releases
9. Blogs.
10. Mass Emails
11. Text messages.
12. Social Networking Websites.
13. Government Websites
14. Community Websites
15. Public Announcements.
16. Newsletter
17. Pamphlets
18. Brochures
19. Video Recording and Circulation
20. Field days

Activity Two

Activity Title: Establishment of Social and Economic Community Village

Activity Rationale

The social and economic village will enhance the livelihood assets of the community, thus strengthening their adaptive capacity to climate change and variability. Further, the consequent research on resilience being built in the community will provide the ASALI project with new knowledge on how best to empower people to come out of vulnerability and sustain resilience. It will also enable the target community to discover and appreciate their vulnerability sources and how best to address the situations.

Objective

The overall objective is to assist in building resilience of local communities

Sub-objectives

1. to provide housing infrastructures and startups for social and economic empowerment;
2. to provide and install bee hives for the Social and Economic Community Village
3. to provide startup capital for two business entrepreneurships (hair salon and ITC Centre)
4. to capacity build the target community in management of the Social and Economic Community Village, water supply and resilience measures;

Sub Activities

These are defined by the above named sub-objectives

Dissemination

The dissemination of findings will follow the ASALI dissemination strategy that has been intentionally developed to broadcast knowledge accrued from the component activities researches. In efforts to communicate knowledge to target audiences so that it may be used to lead to change, the activity will continuously identify recipients of potential adopters through an assessment of climate of readiness for change and, enabling transfer of activity outcomes. This will take care of the challenge to improve the accessibility of desired knowledge products by those they are intended to reach. Dissemination will overall take the following forms:

1. Scientific Papers
2. Exposure to Field experiments
3. Outreach Activities
4. Stakeholder Participation
5. Workshops and Seminars
6. Radio and Television
7. Print Media
8. News Releases
9. Blogs
10. Mass Emails
11. Text messages
12. Social Networking Websites.
13. Government Websites
14. Community Websites
15. Public Announcements.
16. Newsletter
17. Pamphlets
18. Brochures
19. Video Recording and Circulation
20. Field days

Details

Written by Super User

Category: SEKU - ASALI Project Linkages

Published: 03 July 2019

Hits: 1703

Component Lead:Dr Moses Mwangi

Theme: Use of Sustainable Natural Resource Management Strategies to Enhance Water and Food security for Sustainable Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers

Activity One

Activity Tittle: Research on Presumptive Illusions Obfuscating Community Participation in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Water Innovative Researches: Study Case of Dew and Fog Harvesting in Kajiado County

Activity Rationale

The desire for the research is driven by aspirations of community participation in development projects. This has become an important element in the design and implementation of development projects. The aim of community participation in projects is not only to reverse the existing power relations in a manner that creates agency and voice for the poor but also to allow the poor to have more control over development assistance. It is expected that this could result in the allocation of development funds in a manner that is more responsive to the needs of the poor, better targeting of poverty programs, more responsive government and better delivery of public goods and services, better maintained community assets, and a more informed and involved citizenry that is capable of undertaking self-initiated development activity.

Dew drops and fog can actually be a source of drinking water. It can be a cost-effective option in water-stressed regions, with quantities varying with collection and storage designs and, the amount of water in the atmosphere. However, little is known on how best to carry out dew and fog harvesting. In the circumstances, development support agencies have been introducing it to communities through research approaches with minimal beneficiary participation. Most of the systems have ended up being not sustainable, and likely limited data provision from the experiments. Being a viable water resource, it is important to have whole information on the best practices necessary in efforts to provide the best practices that would make dew and fog harvesting provide reliable water supply systems. This should range from beneficiaries involvement in related researches to actual development and, management. The planned research aims at identifying and filling the gaps related to researches on dew and fog harvesting particularly on the aspects of beneficiaries and stakeholders involvement. As a result, the technology innovators, support agencies and, researchers are of interest in obtaining information and data.

Objective

The main goal of the study is to contribute to debate on understanding of essences of stakeholders’ participation in research, development and management in offering alternative and appropriate water supplies.

Sub-Objectives

1. To establish the platform under which the dew and fog collection projects are identified and, the factors affecting community participation in the selected CBD projects
2. To access aspects of stakeholders involvement in construction, monitoring and evaluation and, operation and maintenance of dew and fog collection projects through identification of the relationship between community participation and project outcomes in the selected CBD projects;
3. To find out the extent to which community participation in dew and fog collection leads to sustainability of resultant projects and possible best practices in stakeholder involvement in new innovations.

Sub-Activities

1. Field Data Collection
2. Data Keying in and Analysis
3. Report Writing
4. Disseminations
5. Quarterly Progress Reporting

Dissemination

The dissemination of findings will follow the ASALI dissemination strategy that has been intentionally developed to broadcast knowledge accrued from the component activities researches. In efforts to communicate knowledge to target audiences so that it may be used to lead to change, the activity will continuously identify recipients of potential adopters through an assessment of climate of readiness for change and, enabling transfer of activity outcomes. This will take care of the challenge to improve the accessibility of desired knowledge products by those they are intended to reach. Overall, dissemination will take the following forms:

1. Scientific papers
2. Exposure to field experiments
3. Outreach activities
4. Stakeholder participation
5. Workshops and seminars
6. Electronic media
7. Print media
8. News releases
9. Blogs.
10. Mass emails
11. Text messages.
12. Social networking websites.
13. Government websites
14. Communitywebsites
15. Public announcements.
16. Newsletter
17. Pamphlets
18. Brochures
19. Video recording and circulation
20. Field days

Activity Two

Activity Title: Study onExploitation of Alluvial Aquifers in Livelihoods Support in the Arid and Semi-Arid Areas

Activity Rationale

It is found prudent to have some field surveys on utilization of alluvial aquifers for food security in the ASALs as this lacks along the ASALI transect. It is proposed to carry out some field surveys in two locations - one in Kitui County and the other in Kajiado County. While the former area is comprised of agropastoralists, the latter houses pure pastoralists. Thus, a Kajiado case (Toroka River) would shine some more light on the social and economic transformations taking place among the pastoralists, more so in terms of food security for human and livestock and the implications to the local alluvial aquifers. The Kitui one (Tiva River) are expected to reveal the level and changes in the use of alluvial aquifers in their environment for food security in both social and economic terms. In either county, the single seasonal rivers selected and studied on exploitation of the alluvial aquifers for food security followed. A distance of not less than 5km stretches on either side of the rivers along interests on among others, a) whattype of food security activities are in practice; b) who is involved in food security activities; c) whyfood security activities are a necessity in the area; d) which type of water abstraction means are preferred and, the reasons for choice; e) what the environmental consequences of the undertakings to the alluvial aquifer are; f) what the advantages of using alluvial aquifers in food production are; f) what the limitations in usage of the alluvial aquifers for food production are and, g) what sustainable measures are essential in usage of alluvial aquifers for food security.

Objective

The overall objective is to discern the contribution of the alluvial aquifers in support to livelihoods sustenance for food security in the arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya.

Sub-objectives

The study aspires to meet the needs of four sub-objectives as follows:

1. to establish the rationale and practices in exploitation of alluvial aquifers for food security;
2. to assess the technologies in application in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats;
3. to weigh the effects and impacts of using alluvial aquifers in food security;
4. to distinguish and appreciate the existing and potential sustainable practices in access and use of alluvial aquifers for food security in the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya;

Sub-Activities

1. Recruitment and Training of Research Assistants
2. Field Data Collection along Toroka River
3. Field Data Collection along Tiva River
4. Data Keying in and Analysis
5. Report Writing
6. Disseminations

Disseminations

The dissemination of findings will follow the ASALI dissemination strategy that has been intentionally developed to broadcast knowledge accrued from the component activities researches. In efforts to communicate knowledge to target audiences so that it may be used to lead to change, the activity will continuously identify recipients of potential adopters through an assessment of climate of readiness for change and, enabling transfer of activity outcomes. This will take care of the challenge to improve the accessibility of desired knowledge products by those they are intended to reach. Dissemination will overall take the following forms:

a) Scientific Papers
b) Exposure to Field experiments
c) Outreach Activities
d) Stakeholder Participation
e) Workshops and Seminars
f) Radio and Television
g) Print Media
h) News Releases
i) Blogs
j) Mass Emails
k) Text messages
l) Social Networking Websites.
m) Government Websites
n) Community Websites
o) Public Announcements.
p) Newsletter
q) Pamphlets
r) Brochures
s) Video Recording and Circulation
t) Field days

Activity Three

Activity Title: Study onDew and Fog Harvesting inSouthEasternKenya University

Activity Rationale

The aim of the research project is to demonstrate that atmospheric moisture can be harvested and processed into safe drinking water comparable in quality. The research proposes to experiment on harvesting dew and fog that naturally forms on rooftops as a source of potable water.Rooftops made out of galvanizediron,plastic sheets, clay tiles, grass orglass,in regions that experience the righ weather conditions will naturally produce a significant amount of dew.Simply by collecting this dew,a amilycan gather some water per dew night.The water boxxes that will be used to grow crops will provide a forum to compare them against local materials with a view to having alternatives. This work is envisaged to offer a description of how to build a dew or fog collection rig.The results will assistin development of dew harvest systems,making and testing of prototypes.Unfortunately,dew and fog fall is not currently recorded in most standard meteorological archives;so the next step for this project is to offer are liable meansof regional assessment that is accessible to lay men.

Objective

Theoverallobjectiveoftheresearchprojectistodemonstratethatdew and fog harvestingcangreatly contributeto increasedhouseholdwatersupply and food security intheASALareas.

Specific Objectives

1. To determinetheeffectivenessofdew and fog harvestingusinglocallyimprovisedmaterials and, standardizedharvestersin collectingsubstantialamountof water for household needs and food crops growth.
2. To testtheeconomicvariabilityofdew and fog harvestingtechnologies inhouseholdwater supply and food insecurity alleviation.
3. To assessthequalityoftheharvestedwater for human and food crops sustenance.

Sub-Activities

1. Proposal Development
2. Budget Presentation and Approvals
3. Materials and Equipment Acquisition
4. Setting up of Project
5. Dew Collection, Monitoring and Reporting
6. Water Quality Assessment
7. Quarterly Progress Reporting

Disseminations

The dissemination of findings will follow the ASALI dissemination strategy that has been intentionally developed to broadcast knowledge accrued from the component activities researches. In efforts to communicate knowledge to target audiences so that it may be used to lead to change, the activity will continuously identify recipients of potential adopters through an assessment of climate of readiness for change and, enabling transfer of activity outcomes. This will take care of the challenge to improve the accessibility of desired knowledge products by those they are intended to reach. Dissemination will overall take the following forms:

1. Scientific Papers
2. Exposure to Field experiments
3. Outreach Activities
4. Stakeholder Participation
5. Workshops and Seminars
6. Radio and Television
7. Print Media
8. News Releases
9. Blogs
10. Mass Emails
11. Text messages
12. Social Networking Websites.
13. Government Websites
14. Community Websites
15. Public Announcements.
16. Newsletter
17. Pamphlets
18. Brochures
19. Video Recording and Circulation
20. Field days