FORMAT Countrywide: Promoting Organic Resource Management at the Grassroots Level in Kenya

FORMAT revised its strategy in 2003 by sponsoring a series of six one- or- two-day “countrywide” events covering seven of Kenya’s eight provinces.  These events feature invited presentations, exhibits, demonstrations and contests.These events were organized as a response to the need to find better and cost-effective ways to interact with grassroots groups throughout Kenya and communicate technologies to a growing number of interested stakeholders. Outstanding participants from past FORMAT events were identified and helped to organize the grassroots events, advertised them locally and invited local participants. The events were strengthened by a team of “core” participants that were assisted to prepare and present high profile exhibits, presentations and demonstrations in their areas of specialization. Government departments, private sector, churches and non-governmental organizations voluntarily joined local organizers in the preparations and popularization of the events, and also mobilized their collaborators and members of the public to attend. The events were cost-effective as only local travel was reimbursed, venues and meals were affordable and organizers utilized their staff and facilities for the events. The events were open to the members of the public.

A total of 470 participants were invited to the eight events and up to 1261 visitors attended the events. Community-based organizations (CBOs) comprised the largest group of participants although NGOs maintained their strong presence at FORMAT events. Grassroots organizations were able to effectively participate in local events unlike those organized in Nairobi. There was increased attendance by members of the public and improved participation by farmers, colleges and schools, and micro-enterprises. The eight events attracted 177 presentations and 320 exhibits. Exhibits were allocated over 70% of the time and allowed participants and visitors to exchange information and products. Several organizations running community libraries collected information as others seized the opportunity to showcase their work to hundreds of people who visited the exhibits.  Outstanding innovators are recognized through prizes awarded during these events.

Shortfalls during Countrywide Events. Some events started late and closed early to enable participants to travel back to their destinations, reducing the time for exhibition. Some of the established local organizers had little difficulty in organizing the events given their access to facilities and experience, unlike other small organizations with whom FORMAT had to extensively get involved to organize the events. Organizing the events outside Nairobi resulted in a significant decline in the number of international research and development organizations attending the events, although this did not affect the success of the events in any way. 

Impacts of FORMAT Events. Since its inception, the forum has stimulated improvement in product quality, packaging, labelling and marketing, as witnessed by the steady improvement of exhibits with time (Omare et al., 2003). Organizations are adopting technologies, as demonstrated with the increase in number of exhibitors who present various technologies learnt from past events. The forum’s collaborators publish articles in local agricultural and environment magazines and newspapers, and are featured on television to promote their technologies (Omare and Woomer, 2002). Some grassroots organizations have been assisted to secure funding to conduct their activities while new partnerships and networks have been built by organizations and persons participating in the forum. During 2003, collaborators contributed articles that were published into a book “Organic Resource Management in Kenya. Perspectives and Guidelines”, that was distributed during the events.

Way Forward. The countrywide events confirmed that a significant proportion of FORMAT’s clientele are found at the grassroots level. There is urgent need to find innovative ways of managing underutilized organic resources in rural areas. FORMAT plans to organize more grassroots outreach activities and also promote key innovations involving utilization of organic resources. There are plans to initiate value-added processing of underutilized organic resources into agricultural inputs in six provinces in Kenya. Some of these resources include maize stover, wheat straw, seaweed, coconut husks, rice straw and hulls, sugar tops and wastes, water hyacinth wastes and urban domestic waste. Too often, these resources are wasted despite their potential as soil amendments, livestock feed, fibre for handcrafting and cooking fuel. Innovation will be advanced by providing incentives for refining selected technologies and products in a manner that will facilitate their dissemination and testing by several users.