A wave of change
The year 2020 will forever remain in the minds of these three women. They were introduced to Women Economic Empowerment - Climate-Smart Agriculture (WEE-CSA), a project by UN Women, in partnership with FAO, the County Government, and other stakeholders.
The three women with their 30-member groups were marked as beneficiaries of the four-year project.
Selina says she will forever be grateful for the day she enrolled for training. "Apart from being taught how to practice new methods of farming (CSA), how to save money and, keep records, we were asked to bring along our husbands during some training sessions," she says.
At the onset, the three women report that their husbands were reluctant to join the training, but after a visit by the trainers, they gave in.
"The sessions were interesting and there were other men, and the trainers taught us that in keeping to the traditional culture such as FGM, marrying off our daughters at an early age and not involving our wives in family decisions was detrimental to the progress and the well-being of the family," says Selina's husband Pastor Roron.
Monica and Milkah report similar results - slow but effective behavioral changes from their husbands who previously were unchangeable in matters of traditions.
Today, less than two years into the training, with the change of behaviour, and support from her husband, Milkah owns 50 improved goats, and three dairy cows and poultry. She also runs a posho mill at Kacheliba town.
With the freedom to participate in decision-making, these couples are enjoying relatively prosperous lives.
Monica recalls how her husband would previously sell off the chicken, milk, onions, and other crops without informing her.
With the support from her peer table-banking group members, all of whom had participated in the training on gender, she did not falter from the teaching that a wife is also part of the family and should be involved in decision-making. She was adamant that there was no turning back to the hurtful cultural practices.
Almost two years down the training, the three women and their spouses read from the same script.
They are involved in CSA farming and have harvested their first batch of onions -- a first since using CSA. They have dairy cows and poultry and, above all, their children are in school. They can also sustain their families both in feeding and meeting their other financial needs.
Couples now engage in discussions before making decisions. All three are representative of the "bigger picture of what is happening across the three wards.
Most beneficiaries have upgraded their lives and homes. The targeted households agree that women are good decision-makers, they are now financially free; free from cultural norms, free from FGM, and free from early marriages. Girls have access to education and can inherit property and their food security has improved.
The programme Manager reports that the project has so far touched 809 households, targeting 80 per cent women representation, and 20 per cent men. Funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the WEE-CSA project's overarching goal is to enhance gender sensitive adaptive capacity of West Pokot County to climate change and strengthen the women's capacity, and meaningfully engage in climate-smart agriculture.
According to Mercy Tumkou, Project Manager, WEE-CSA is slowly changing this landscape through interactive training. Village Enterprise is implementing the four-year project (2021-2024).
"the project has been rolled out in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) counties of West Pokot, Laikipia, and Kitui.