The Siaya region on Lake Victoria is not well developed economically and is suffering from rural exodus. Like many villages in rural Kenya, the Lake Victoria village of Mbuye is losing its young, energetic population, leading to threats to the food security of the people in the village, among other socio-economic consequences. Mbuye is located on the edge of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. There is a savannah climate, there are no reliable rainy seasons and only irregular rainfall. The population practices subsistence farming, cultivating maize, millet and beans. Livestock, especially goats and sheep, are also kept. There are wells for irrigation, but there is a lack of basic infrastructure, there is neither electricity nor paved roads.
The aim of this project is to enable young women and men in the region to acquire skills and competencies that are important for them and for the entire community with regard to production and employment opportunities in the region through a training and production facility. The content of the one-year training course is based on the locally available resources and environmental conditions and includes beekeeping, keeping chickens, breeding rabbits, making bricks and setting up a tree nursery.
20 young women and men (care is taken to ensure a fair distribution of the sexes) receive training in each of the areas mentioned for two months. Then they choose a focus in which they can continue their training and produce at the same time, and at the end of the year they receive capital for their own start-up, in the form of animals and/or tree seedlings to build up their own stock and generate their own income. Five of the graduates then take over one area each and train other young people in the next year.
The production and sale of the building materials and consumables, as well as through the multiplier effect of the trainers, ensure the sustainability of the project after the year is over.
Marketing in Kenya is mainly done through “social media”, especially for orders and not only in local markets. The orders are delivered with the village motorcycle.
Project sponsor : One World Network eV
Project partners: One World Network Kenya, Nairobi
Funding year: since 2021
Project no.: 143-21si