Development partners work with communities to improve food security through drought-resilient farming, emergency food assistance, and climate adaptation projects.Food security and climate resilience in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) require strong partnerships between communities, county and national governments, NGOs, development partners, research institutions, and the private sector. These partnerships can help communities move from repeated emergency responses to long-term, climate-resilient food production and sustainable livelihoods.

Kenya’s current ASAL policy work identifies drought resilience, food security, water development, sustainable natural-resource management, livestock production, peacebuilding and economic empowerment among the key priorities for ASAL development.

1. Community–Government Partnerships

County governments, national government agencies and local communities can work together to:

• Develop community irrigation and water-harvesting systems.
• Support drought-tolerant crops and livestock breeds.
• Strengthen agricultural extension services.
• Establish community seed banks.
• Improve livestock health and veterinary services.
• Develop drought preparedness and early-warning systems.
• Support community-led land and natural-resource management.

The partnership should ensure that local communities participate in planning, implementation and monitoring, rather than being treated only as beneficiaries.

2. NGO and Development-Partner Partnerships

NGOs and development organizations can complement government programmes by providing technical expertise, funding, training and community mobilization.

For example, Kenya’s ASAL development programmes increasingly emphasize collaboration among government, development partners, civil society, private-sector actors and communities.

Potential areas of collaboration include:

Food production → Water → Livelihoods → Markets → Climate adaptation

This integrated approach can help households become less dependent on emergency food assistance during droughts.

3. Climate-Smart Agriculture Partnerships

Partnerships can promote climate-smart farming practices such as:

• Drip irrigation
• Water harvesting
• Conservation agriculture
• Intercropping
• Crop rotation
• Agroforestry
• Drought-tolerant crops
• Organic manure and compost
• Kitchen gardens
• Solar-powered irrigation

Research from semi-arid counties including Kitui and Tharaka Nithi identifies practices such as water conservation, intercropping, drought-tolerant crops, agroforestry and organic manure among commonly adopted climate-smart approaches.

4. Livestock and Pastoralism Partnerships

Livestock is central to livelihoods in many ASAL counties. Partnerships can support:

• Drought-resistant livestock breeds
• Veterinary services
• Pasture and fodder production
• Strategic livestock marketing
• Livestock insurance
• Water infrastructure
• Disease surveillance
• Value addition for milk, meat and hides
• Restoration of degraded grazing areas

Pastoral-production initiatives in Kenya have also focused on sustainable land management, livestock productivity, market access and value addition.

5. Water-Food Security Partnerships

Water security is one of the most important foundations of food security in ASALs.

Partnerships can invest in:

• Sand dams
• Water pans
• Boreholes
• Rock catchments
• Rainwater harvesting
• Small-scale irrigation
• Water storage tanks
• Solar-powered water systems
• Watershed and rangeland restoration

The Kenya Drought Risk Management KnowledgeWeb currently shows substantial investment in water, livestock and agriculture across drought-prone areas, illustrating the importance of integrating these sectors.

6. Private-Sector Partnerships

The private sector can help communities move beyond subsistence production by providing:

• Agricultural inputs
• Solar irrigation technology
• Affordable equipment
• Digital agricultural services
• Market information
• Storage facilities
• Transport
• Food processing
• Access to local and regional markets
• Agricultural financing

Public-private partnerships are already being used in Kenya to promote climate-smart agricultural technologies and improve smallholder farmers’ productivity and incomes.

7. Research and Technology Partnerships

Universities, research institutions and technology organizations can work with communities to develop locally appropriate solutions.

These may include:

• Drought forecasting
• Weather information services
• Climate-smart crop varieties
• Soil testing
• Digital extension services
• Satellite-based drought monitoring
• Mobile agricultural platforms
• Early-warning systems
• Solar-powered technologies

The objective should be to convert research into practical technologies that farmers and pastoralists can afford and maintain locally.

8. Community-Based Climate Resilience

Communities should be at the centre of climate-resilience programmes.

A strong community model can establish:

Community identification of problems → Participatory planning → Local implementation → Training → Monitoring → Evaluation → Scaling successful solutions

This approach improves ownership and increases the likelihood that projects will continue after external funding ends.