Laikipia and Turkana counties enhance climate resilience and peace through Climate-Smart Agriculture training and newly established Multi-Stakeholder Platforms.
Multi-Stakeholder Platforms and training have empowered Laikipia and Turkana counties to promote resilience and peace through climate-smart agriculture. In 2024, the CGIAR Research Initiative on Climate Resilience (ClimBeR) supported the establishment of the county-level Climate-Smart Agriculture Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (CSA-MSPs) and piloted a training course, equipping county officials, NGOs, and farmers with tools to address resource-based conflicts and advance climate adaptation and resilience strategies, as part of the actions agreed in the ATAR.
Kenya’s agriculture sector, employing 80% of the rural population, is highly vulnerable to climate stressors such as prolonged droughts and erratic rainfall. These challenges are particularly severe in dry areas, such as Laikipia and Turkana counties, where resource scarcity disrupts livelihoods and fuels resource-based conflicts.
ClimBeR has long supported Kenyan authorities in addressing climate and conflict-related challenges, most recently by ensuring that climate security was made a priority in Kenya’s National Climate Change Action Plan III (NCCAP III), published in 2023.
Central to advancing the goals of Kenya’s National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP III) and the Adaptation Technical Analysis Report (ATAR) is the establishment of county MSPs in Laikipia and Turkana. These platforms are intended to provide inclusive spaces for stakeholders to collaboratively address climate risks, promote Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices, and establish sustainable governance structures. The MSPs align with NCCAP III priorities, including expanding knowledge on climate-related security risks (Priority #1) and integrating CSA strategies into county governance frameworks (Priority #2), exemplifying Kenya’s commitment to locally driven climate adaptation and resilience-building efforts.
To help realize these goals, ClimBeR, in collaboration with the national CSA-MSP, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), and county governments, developed the Training Manual on Inclusive Approaches for Addressing Climate Change, Agriculture, and Peace in Kenya. The manual is designed to equip county officials, NGOs, and farmers with the tools needed to address climate security risks through CSA, promoting its role in fostering peace and resilience.
In March 2024, ClimBeR launched the course at a piloting workshop in Laikipia County, which saw the establishment of the county CSA-MSP with the support of the Help Self Help Center (HSHC), a national development agency. In May, the course was further piloted in Turkana, where the county-level CSA-MSP was also established. A total of 51 participants were trained, including 14 women. These dry and drought-prone counties were prioritized in collaboration with the national CSA-MSP due to their high vulnerability to climate-related security risks and the absence of county-level CSA-MSPs.
Once established, the county-level MSPs started fulfilling their mandate to advance the use of CSA as a tool to address climate security risks. Notably, in 2024, the CSA-MSPs in both counties advanced activities aligned with training objectives. In Laikipia, the CSA-MSP partnered with organizations such as FAO and HandinHand to support alternative livelihoods like geranium farming for essential oil production. This initiative intended to provide alternative economic opportunities is expected to reduce resource-based conflicts. In Turkana, the CSA-MSP collaborated with World Vision to enhance the adoption of CSA practices, building local capacity to improve agricultural productivity and resilience.
Building on the establishment of the CSA-MSPs, both Turkana and Laikipia counties advanced interest and efforts to integrate climate security into their CSA strategies. In July 2024, Laikipia formally requested CIAT’s support to develop its new CSA strategy and embed climate security insights. This work is expected to continue in 2025.
Finally, the co-development of the training manual also led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between CIAT and JKUAT in August 2024. This agreement formalized a collaboration that, among others, aims to integrate the module’s content within JKUAT’s curriculum, thus ensuring the sustainability of the training manual in the long term. The manual has the potential to be used in other contexts and, for this reason, was also presented during an event on Climate Smart Agriculture: Scaling Pathways at the African Food Systems Summit in Kigali in September 2024.
“The CSA-MSP will act as a catalyst within our organizational structure and institutional arrangements for climate change. It fits seamlessly into our partnerships, becoming part of the technical working group within our structure. This partnership will also upscale and accelerate the actions outlined in Laikipia County’s climate change action plan,”
David Kingori, county director of the Water, Environment and Natural Resources department, Laikipia County
