Mara Russell

Health Workers in their Ruiri Bible Baptist Church office, sit next to electric egg hatchers. These machines produce chicks for their clients.

During my recent trip to Kenya, I visited the APHIAplus KaMili program, a four-year program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Land O’Lakes International Development is supporting this program, which aims to address holistically any gaps that lead to or contribute to poor health, and improve the well-being of vulnerable populations. The program, led by Jhpiego, also focuses on alleviating the economic vulnerability of marginalized, food insecure Kenyans, especially people living with HIV (PLHIV) or those affected by the disease. KaMili means “whole” in Swahili.

Through this program, Land O'Lakes is implementing a number of economic strengthening activities in urban and peri-urban areas in Kenya’s Eastern and Central Provinces that support vulnerable households that have felt the impact of HIV/AIDS. While the other eight partners of APHIAplus KaMili are providing health care and support, Land O'Lakes is helping households impacted by the disease to find a way out of poverty and food insecurity. We work through local community-based implementing partners who provide specific services and assistance to clients.  In order to do this, we train these partners using the Land O’Lakes Economic Strengthening Toolkit, which helps people to develop and manage micro-enterprises or other income generating activities (IGAs).  Most of these agencies are trying to provide support to orphans or vulnerable children and youth whose parents are sick or have died due to HIV/AIDS. In doing so, these agencies frequently work with mothers or grandmothers caring for a large number of children on their own, or with youth looking for income earning opportunities so that they can eventually gain the skills they need to enter into a profession.

The Ruiri Bible Baptist Church in Nairobi is one of our implementing partners that we trained in how to use the Economic Strengthening Toolkit in a way that enables clients to improve their food security and livelihoods. Ruiri targets the most vulnerable who need significant support in order to care for their households and families. They train clients in basic financial literacy and business start-up and management. While many activities involve the development of traditional urban-based businesses (i.e. tailoring and hairstyling), others focus on one of their client’s most important needs – food security – using an innovative approach. 

Ruiri is using electric egg hatching machines to hatch chicken eggs. Clients receive chicks and instructions on how to care for them. Once they mature, clients use the eggs to help feed their families. As payment, clients return one egg each week to Ruiri, which in turn uses them to hatch new chicks for other clients. Ruiri also provides guidance to clients on the nutritional benefits of eggs, and in ways they can sell the eggs and chickens to generate income as needed. Ruiri also keeps live chickens to demonstrate how to manage them. 

Land O'Lakes also supported Ngoliba Volunteers to establish a Food Bank in Kenya’s Eastern Province. Today, food is always available for orphans and vulnerable children at subsidized prices. Other customers pay full prices – enabling a cross-subsidy. This Food Bank succeeded in ensuring that food remains available and affordable even in times of drought, which has been particularly devastating during the past year. 

Through APHIAplus KaMili, Land O'Lakes continues to work with the Society for Women and AIDS in Kenya, which is based in Embu. We help them create and manage a demonstration plot that grows maize, cassava, cowpeas, beans and sweet potatoes for PLHIV who receive Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). This activity supports the nutrition and food security needs of clients, and introduces improved practices for growing food self-sufficiently. The activity builds confidence and self-esteem for PLHIV, which is critical to ensuring that they adhere to their medication regimen and that they remain non-symptomatic. Not only do these demonstration plots support people’s health, but they also meet their psychosocial needs and develop a social support group. 

All of these local organizations received training via the Land O'Lakes Economic Strengthening Toolkit, which will be used in CityLinks Project to train partners in municipalities. We will also use lessons learned from these efforts to support CityLinks initiatives.

For more information pleast go to our website: www.idd.landolakes.com