Northern Kenya’s Gambella region is facing an acute convergence of climate vulnerability, economic exclusion, and environmental degradation. Communities are highly dependent on pastoralism, but this livelihood is increasingly at risk due to unsustainable practices, frequent climate shocks, and weak market systems. The encroachment into wetlands and wildlife corridors in search of resources has accelerated ecosystem degradation and intensified human-wildlife conflict, undermining biodiversity. Limited technical skills and weak market linkages, coupled with cultural and nomadic barriers, particularly affect women, excluding them from formal finance and limiting sustainable income generation.
Using a Market Systems Development approach, the project addresses complex, interrelated challenges—economic marginalization, climate vulnerability, and environmental degradation, addressing economic marginalization, climate vulnerability, and environmental degradation through integrated, market-based solutions. The initiative leverages contract farming, tailored technical training, climate-smart production, and inclusive finance and aggregation systems to create sustainable livelihoods and support the recovery of degraded ecosystems.
In first phase, the project works in three areas:
Empowering Sustainable Livelihoods: Capacity Building, Market Integration, and Inclusive Finance for Ecological Stewardship