On March 22nd, 2019 the PRM launched in Baringo County, 295 km from Nairobi, Kenya. His Excellency Stanley Kiptis, Governor of Baringo County launched the project.
Baringo County has been struggling to solve resource-based conflicts for years among pastoral communities. Besides conflicts, Baringo has a worry of feeding its growing population and now counts on rangelands.
The PRM is a four-year European Union supported project that started in 2018 aiming to secure and improve the use of rangelands and expand the role of women in land management.
It is implemented in Tanzania and Kenya via a multi-stakeholder cooperation, which includes partners such as the Resource Conflict Institute (Reconcile), the International Land Coalition (ILC), the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF), the Rangelands Initiative Africa, the KINNAPA Development Programme and the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP).
In Baringo, the initiative hopes to work with communities, institutions and governance structures to build capacities and promote participatory rangelands management.
For Governor Kiptis the project would help pastoralists gain secure pastoral corridors which should end conflicts and improve food and nutrition security.
Pastoralism supports around 6 million people in Kenya and represents nearly 80% of the country’s spatial space. Of the 24% agricultural contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), pastoralism through livestock contributes around 12%.
Though pastoralism seems to be Kenya’s priced blessing, it is still not receiving its deserved recognition. For example, the system of agriculture only received legal recognition in 2010 with the country’s new constitution and yet Kenya is legging to solve decades of pastoral conflicts that impedes development and destroy livelihoods.
Another key interest of the initiative is to strengthen pastoralism and put it on top of the community and national agenda. The initiative wants pastoralism to be considered across Kenya and Tanzania as a viable economic activity.
Coordinated by different ILC partners, the PRM is supporting livestock keepers in Kiteto District, Tanzania and four sub-counties in Baringo Kenya:
- Kaborion community conservancy in Baringo North;
- Irong Community Conservancy in Baringo South;
- Koitegan community forest in Mogotio and;
- Paka hills in Tiaty sub-county.
With blessings from the Baringo County government, the project works with the County Department of land and physical planning and communities from the four conservancies to meet its objectives.
“I want to indicate here that my government will offer all the support required through the technical working groups to ensure we all realise our core reason of implementing this project,” says Stanley Kiptis, Baringo County Governor.