Water for Life: Private Sector Partnerships Reap Added Rewards

ACDI/VOCA’s private sector partnerships often reap unexpected rewards in terms of better lives and well-being for the people participating in our projects.

Such recently was the case in Kenya when Roto Moulders Ltd. donated a water tank and a second company, Amiran Kenya Ltd., donated a drip irrigation kit, both of which helped to bring increased stability, safety and productivity to young people in two Rift Valley communities.

The donations grew out in part from Kenya’s eighth annual agricultural business fair held this fall. The business fair, established through ACDI/VOCA’s Kenya Maize Development Program (KMDP), has become the key information-sharing and networking event for regional farmers, attracting more than 30,000 participants, mostly farmers and other agricultural value chain actors, toward improved productivity and marketing.

Roto Moulders agreed to be a main sponsor for the event. Amiran already was an established partner of the maize development program. The unanticipated happened when both companies agreed to donate agricultural equipment exhibited at the fair to the ACDI/VOCA project. Roto Moulders donated a 10,000 liter water tank, and Amiran donated a greenhouse and a drip irrigation kit, complete with inputs. Each donation was worth $2,000.

KMDP staff decided that the best way to use these donations would be to invest in Kenya’s future through sustainable agriculture, so they gave the drip irrigation kit and water tank, separately, to two groups of Kenyan youth.

Youth from Kapseret in Eldoret received the Amiran greenhouse and drip irrigation kit. Girls from the Liter Girls Secondary School in Marakwet received the water tank.

Gift of Safety, Food … and Time for Girls

The water tank donation will make an instrumental change in the lives of the Marakwet girls. The school girls had been spending about a quarter of their time fetching water from the river. Moreover, their parents had to pay for the girls to be escorted to the river because of safety and security concerns.

Now, the school will be able to channel water from the escarpment and harvest rain water into the tank, water that will be used for many school needs such as washing clothes, cooking and bathing.

The water also will be used to irrigate the school garden, which is a demonstration plot for the community to learn the latest agricultural technologies as well as supply food for the school.

The girls’ school is at the border of Marakwet and Pokot, regions with long-standing security issues tied to tribal conflict that started because of livestock theft. The school represents a peace initiative on the part of the communities to bring their children together from a young age. The school, with 100 students, also is the first girls’ school in the area. The counterpart boys’ secondary school in Pokot hosts boys from both the Pokot and the Marakwet communities.

“Prosperity comes only when there is peace,” says Suneel Menon (pictured above and at top left), of Roto Moulders, who attended the Oct. 21 presentation ceremony at the girls’ school in Marakwet along with ACDI/VOCA staff from the KMDP project office and Washington, D.C.

Kenyan parliamentarian Hon. Dr. Linah Jebii Kilimo, assistant minister of the Ministry of Cooperative Development and Marketing in Kenya, shares a similar sentiment, especially when it comes to investing in women and girls. “Women are the best agents for peace,” Hon. Kilimo says.

Marakwet Looks to the Future

Earlier this year, Hon. Kilimo encouraged KMDP staff to visit Marakwet. She was concerned about the community because, though the land is fertile and strong agricultural productivity possible, the community struggles against poverty and security problems that persist.

The team visited the community and found a list of constraints for agricultural and economic development:

• Poor infrastructure. Though the area is less than 150 kilometers from Eldoret, the journey takes more than four hours due to poor roads;
• Lack of medical care. Only one dispensary was visible, the majority of people do not seek medical attention and the infant mortality rate is high;
• Insecurity due to cattle theft, although tremendous headway has been made to resolve these issues;
• Education. Due to the nomadic nature of the Marakwet people, they do not attend school regularly. Many girls are married by age 12 and do not attend high school.
• Economic enterprises are few, with the majority of Marakwet people earning a living from farming, which has been more difficult because of the recent drought. Youth often spend their time in the shopping centers.

Despite these constraints, the community has made significant gains:

• Peace. To help eliminate cattle theft, community leaders have set up a team of young people to spread the message of peace and stability through song and skits;
• Irrigation. Some sections of Marakwet have excellent irrigation schemes, with canals to channel the water that comes down to the escarpment. This enables them to grow indigenous vegetables, bananas, beans and maize;
• Education. Through a constituency development fund, the community has invested in secondary schools including science labs and libraries;
• Infrastructure. Electricity is being installed, which will help encourage small business growth and investment; and
• Reforestation. The community plans to move out of Embobut forest and makes ongoing efforts to plant trees.

The community also is looking to the future. They would like to invest in dairy goats, drip irrigation and greenhouses as well as other value-added agricultural projects to boost their marketing of mangoes and other fruits from the area.