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Our work in the field

As a new Regional Director for Practical Action in Eastern Africa, my induction would not be complete until I had seen and began to appreciate our work in the field.    

After three weeks at our head office in Nairobi, accompanied by our programme leaders, I made my maiden visit to our field offices in Kisumu and Lodwar. 

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With Practical Action Lodwar staff

I met with staff and Practical Action’s partners. We held meetings to update me on the ongoing projects and discussed key partnership issues and achievements.  Then, jointly with our partners, we moved out to see our work in the field, interact with the people who are supposed to benefit from our interventions and the local government officials they work with.  This was the most inspiring part of my whole trip.

In Kisumu, I saw the work Practical Action is delivering in conjunction with two local organisations, KUAP and Shelter Forum. They have formed a partnership to deliver an innovative five-year project supported by Comic Relief, called ‘People’s Plans in Practice’ in the urban slums of Kisumu and Kitale.  

I saw the work of the Kachok Youth Group.  This is a group of about 30 young men who had been displaced and had lost the sources of their livelihood as a result of the 2008-2008 election violence in Kenya.  They had now mobilised themselves and were being supported by Practical Action to generate incomes through waste management.  They collected the waste from the households on a weekly basis at a small fee, sorted it, processed it into organic manure, and used the manure to fertilize their vegetables. They then sell the vegetables to the same communities.  What a great way for social networking, skills acquisition, productive time use and income generation for vulnerable young people!  Great small steps, big ambitions

In the pastoralist community of Kapuus (Lodwar), we visited a community of over 4,000 people, which is now enjoying unlimited access to water for themselves and their 10,000 livestock (mainly sheep and goats). With assistance from a Practical Action supporters based in the UK, the old shallow well that had been dysfunctional for a long time due to a failed generator benefitted from a new solar pump that pumps water very rapidly, filling a large storage tank donated by the Ministry of Water based in Lodwar.

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Children enjoy water from the solar powered water pump

Before the solar pump was installed, women had two difficult choices to make: either walk an average of 40 km to reach the nearest water point or wake up at 2am to queue for over eight hours to get about five litres of water,  if lucky, from the failing generator.  They mentioned to us that in the past, fights were very common between women/girls queuing for water as some either jumped queues or drew more water than the bare three to five litres generally allowed per person queuing.

Now that is history.

The district commissioner Moses Ivuto summarised it as follows:   

“Practical Action has been very good to us, actually many times I feel as if they are part of my office on issues like peace building and water provision (the major source of conflict), promoting markets instead of conflict  and the sharing resources like pasture during drought.., Practical Action has never let me down.”

It is not surprising therefore that during our visit, the community of Kapuus, could not hide their joy and gratitude to Practical Action and opted to break into song and wild dance that was climaxed with my being carried and artistically tossed in the air by old women and men alternately!

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I'm welcomed by the community in Kapuus


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