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First Lady’s Mentorship Programme


Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau shakes hands with a disabled youth at Emali Town during the Mentorship programme
Most students make career choices with little or no information, guided by family preference, teacher driven, peer influence, individual inclinations or media influence.This has resulted to broken careers and unrealized dreams.
It is for this reason that Makueni first lady Nazi Kivutha in conjunction with the department of Youth Gender Sports and Social Services designed a tailored Students Career Guidance and mentorship programme for different categories of education as well as talent development and life skills mentorship.
The County government of  Makueni is committed to youth empowerment and are working on a Youth Service policy that will ensure all youths are empowered. Governor Kibwana and his deputy Adelina Mwau graced the mentorship programme at Emali town where they promised to ensure the welfare of the young people is factored in the County Integrated Development Plan
  • February 6, 2018 in News

Deputy Governor’s Development Tour in Kalamba


Makueni and Nandi Deputy Governors being shown around inside the Kalamba factory by the chief officer in charge of Agriculture Mary Muteti
Makueni County Deputy Governor Hon. Adelina Mwau today lead her Nandi County counterpart Hon. Dr. Yulita Cheruiyot on a development tour to the Kalamba fruit processing plant among other sectors of development in the County.
The team was impressed by the development projects initiated by the Makueni County government to it’s people. Dr. Yulita commented on Kivutha Kibwana’s leadership,saying that he has truly defined devolution by the many life changing projects already in use. By the end of this Mangoe season, Kalamba  fruit processing plant is projected to process 2100 metric tonnes of raw mango from across the country, producing 4,000 drums of mango puree.
The plant will curb 40 percent of post-harvest fruit waste that farmers used to grapple with in the past. With value addition, curbed waste and stabilised prices, the value of the mango sector in Makueni is projected to increase immensely from the current KES 3 Billion. Later in the day the Nandi team, will also visit Kikima Dairy Plant before ending their development tour to Makueni. “It has been a pleasure hosting Her Excellency Dr.Yulita in our great county and I hope that she will take home some good lessons from us.” Adelina noted.
Nandi deputy governor Hon.Dr Yulita Cheruiyot sips a glass of Mango puree at Kalamba Fruit processing plant.Seated next is Makueni deputy governor
  • January 30, 2018 in News

Makueni to Partner with GIZ in Green Energy Development

The Government of Makueni County is set to partner with GIZ in green energy development as it implements its 2018-2022 County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP). The partnership will involve exploration of conservation measures and renewable energy in order to reduce defforestation especially that which is linked to charcoal burning. A detailed partnership plan was discussed today when the Deputy Governor, H.E. Adelina Mwau, hosted representatives from GIZ in her office. In the plan GIZ will train women and the youth at the ward level on green energy development.
Both partners will develop the green energy sector in the County in order to stimulate development and contribute to the well-being of the society. Makueni schools and hospitals among other institutions will be encouraged to shun traditional cooking methods that use charcoal and firewood and embrace green energy in cooking and lighting. This will entail the use of solar lamps, Jiko Kisasa and solar water pumps among other products.
‘By training the youth,  women and persons with disability who will later sell the green energy products to the community, we will have created an income to them’, affirmed H.E. Adelina Mwau as she reflected on the employment opportunities and immense job creation potential the partnership has for the youth and unemployed. It is envisaged that the partnership in green energy development will address climate change and will lead to an increase in the forest cover in the County and contribute to meeting the national goal for 10% forest cover.
  • January 26, 2018 in News

Framework for Development Partnerships

Kenya Vision 2030 Director General Dr. Julius Muia with Makueni Governor Prof. Kivutha Kibwana during a consultative meeting to lay a framework for development partnerships between National Government and County Governments, at Panari Hotel Monday.

Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Project

Makueni County is the first within the region to pass regulations on Climate Change. It has partnered with: UKAID, Ada Consortium, Christian Aid and Anglican Development Services Eastern (ADSE). As a result, the County has been at a position of accessing 50M seed money for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience.

RELATED >> MAKUENI COUNTY CLIMATE CHANGE REGULATIONS, 2015

Adaptation Consortium which is one of its partners through funding from DFID  supports County Governments in Kitui, Makueni, Wajir , Garrissa and Isiolo to mainstream Climate adaptation into planning and budgeting at the county level and set up mechanisms to access climate finance (from global, national and private sources) for adaptation prioritized by local communities. . The Government of Makueni County has made progress on the same by allocating 1% of its total development budgetary cost on Climate Change.  This will be effective by mainstreaming County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) Regulations into the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP).

Christian Aid (Adaptation Consortium member) in  partnership with Anglican Development Services Eastern , is showing that local Climate adaptation planning ,supported by devolved funds managed by the County authorities , and informed by enhanced Climate Information Services (CIS),can render significant benefits for people in poor and marginalized households.

Makueni County CCCF Regulation development

The process began in January 2015 when a team of six from Makueni County participated in a County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) development workshop in Nairobi.

These included:

  • County Executive Member of Water, Irrigation & Environment
  • Executive Committee Member of Finance & Socio-economic Planning
  • Three members of the County Assembly
  • 1 Officer from the Department of Water, Irrigation & Environment

The above team drafted the first document which was presented to the County Cabinet meeting in February, 2015.

The document was presented to the County Assembly and amendments done and passed in September, 2015

Ward Selection Criteria

From meetings held with various stakeholders in Makueni County, the following items were suggested as possible selection criterion for the 10 out of 40 wards to be covered by the project;

  • Consideration of the agro-ecological zones of the wards
  • The poverty index of the wards
  • The livelihood zones and existing coping strategies (including aspects such as charcoal burning as a livelihood option)
  • The vulnerability index and context of the wards towards natural hazards and disasters (directly linked to aspects of climate change)
  • The ease (or lack of) access to information including climate information; phone network coverage
  • Regional representation (wards to cover worst hit regions) The closeness of the selected wards to enhance impact and change in a systematic and structured way
  • The number of players and type of interventions being undertaken in the county, more so the interrelationship with climate resilience work
  • The climate risks that exist in the various wards and coping to the same
  • Use of Climate information services in programming by existing CSO’s, NGO’s and government

The six pilot wards for the implementation of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience projects entail:   Mtito Andei, Nguu Masumba, Kilungu, Mbitini, Kithungo Kitundo and Kiima Kiu Kalanzoni Wards respectively.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS (SUMMARY)

Makueni County has made significant strides towards.

  1. Selection of the six wards for implementation of the Climate Change Adaptation and resilience projects
  2. Conducting the Participatory Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (PVCA) exercises.
  3. Establishment of the Makueni County Climate Change Funds Regulation,2015
  4. Launch of the Makueni County Climate Change Fund Regulations, 2015 Press Release conference.
  5. Setting up of the structures on Climate Change.
  6. Capacity building of the members to the governance structures on Climate Change.
  7. Commissioning/Operationalization of the governance structures on Climate Change by H.E the Governor of Makueni County Professor Kivutha Kibwana.
  8. Development of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Makueni County and Anglican Development Services Eastern (ADSE) / Christian Aid.
  9. Development of a Makueni County Climate Information Service (CIS) Plan.
  10. Training of the 841 County Information Services (CIS) intermediaries.
  11. Review of the proposals submitted by the Ward County Climate Change Planning Committee (WCCCPC).
  12. Pre-visit of the proposed sites by the Ward County Climate Change Planning Committee (WCCCPC)  .
  13. Approval of the proposals by the County Climate Change Planning Committee
  14. Survey and design of the proposed sites for the implementation of the projects.

DOWNLOAD THE CLIMATE CHANGE REGULATIONS.

Water Agenda

The provision of water to our people continues to be the single most important challenge and opportunity for developing and transforming our communities. It is three years now since we launched the ‘Kutwiikanya Kiwu’ programme as a strategy for enhancing community and household water harvesting in our County.
At the community level we have enhanced water storage infrastructure through construction of 98 earth dams and 45 sand dams and weirs while at the household and institutional levels we have promoted roof catchment as well as drilling of boreholes and extension of water pipeline networks.
Currently, 19 more sand dams are under construction. We have drilled 87 boreholes and equipped 39 others. 9 more boreholes are currently being drilled. Out of these, 24 boreholes have been drilled using the drilling rig that we recently acquired. It is our priority to distribute the water in all our boreholes since we have the resources in the 2017/2018 budget.
Our people are now carrying out irrigation farming using the water from the earth dams and sand dams. Some earth dams are also stocked with fish.
300 women groups have benefited from water tanks through the ‘Nzangule ya Matangi’ programme. 300 more groups are set to benefit from water tanks. This programme is promoting water accessibility and micro-irrigation initiatives in the County. The Department of Youth, Gender, Sports and Social Services has also distributed water tanks to youth and women groups while the Department of Education and ICT has distributed water tanks to primary schools and the Department of Health Services to health facilities.
The County still remains water deficient even with these interventions. This explains our decision to allocate 1 Billion Kenya Shillings for water projects in the 2017/2018 financial year. We are partnering with the South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU) in mapping our water resources especially the location of sand dams and earth dams. A separate research on the capacity of our boreholes is currently being undertaken. This will lead to the development of a water policy and master plan.

Makueni Agricultural Show

Government of Makueni for the first time on 16th and 17th June, 2017 held ground breaking Agricultural and Trade affair at Makindu show ground an event which was opened by HE Pro. Kivutha Kibwana aimed at letting people of Makueni County be in the know and bringing general education to the footsteps of the community.

The Department of Water, Irrigation and & Environment actively participated by engaging their valued stakeholders in Environment and Natural resource Conservation and management rich Makueni county by exhibiting on successes and innovative technologies able to propel their community to achieve sustainable natural resource conservation and management as well as foster co-existence of human and wildlife in their biodiversity.
Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest service, Kenya Forestry Research Institute and Anglican Development Services Eastern were some of the stakeholders which were invited by Assistant Director, Environment via a letter dated 12thJune, 2017. The Directorate of Environment had the opportunity to show to the community all that they have done through a documentary that was done by the directorate among many things.
The event which took two days of entertainment and education from the Department of W.I & E and Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest service, Kenya Forestry Research Institute and Anglican Development Services Eastern since were some of the stakeholders which were invited by Assistant Director, Environment via a letter dated 12th June, 2017.
Prepared by Claudia Katheu.

Tree Growing and Conservation Awards

The grand award of celebrating the Kenyan Heroes in Tree Growing and Conservation 2017 was a premier event organized by Kenya Forest Service at the Headquarters of Karura Forest being officiated by Her Excellency Margret Kenyatta.

Fifty-nine conservationists and tree growers among them the County Government of Makueni were recognized for the effort and determination of making the Kenyan Forest cover rise to 7.4per cent from 6.9per cent in 2010. The objective of the initiative is to turn the forest cover from 7.4percent to 10per cent as per the Vision 2030.

The awardees were drawn from the 47 counties since 514 members had applied. They all went through a panel. Evaluation was done from the headquarters depending on the three ecological zones and amount of rainfall each area receives.

Awardees who included individuals, schools, cooperates, groups of disabilities, community, farmers, state agencies and counties received medals and certificates.

Her Excellency first lady congratulated the awardees citing the huge benefits and the various roles that forests play all over the world and playing a key role to balance nature.

The Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources Pro. Judi Wakhugu said the 70per cent of Kenyans who depend on fuel exerts pressure on our forests.

The minister of Water Irrigation and Environment, Makueni County Mr. Douglas Mbilu accompanied his team to celebrate and receive the award of the life-size achievement for the Directorate of Environment.

 

Mr. Mbilu interacted with Pro. Judi Wakhugu, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Recourses with whom they shared different tactics in their field of work bearing in mind they both head the department of Environment in County and National Government respectively.

Speaking on phone to the local radio stations Mr. Mbilu was overwhelmed for the achievement they have got so far as a directorate and urged the residents of Makueni County to conserve the environment and protect the reafforesteted hills.

 

Report by: Claudia Katheu.

World Environment Day 2017

The World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. On June 5th the nations of the world came together in making the day. Worldwide, it was held in Canada and Egerton took the privilege of hosting the event countrywide as the other Counties do it.

“Connecting people to nature” the theme of World Environment Day 2017, implores us to get outdoors and in to nature, to appreciate its beauty and its importance, and to forward the call to protect the earth that we share.

Assistant Director Environment- Joseph Munyao explaining 2017’s theme

 ‘Without a healthy environment we cannot end poverty or build prosperity. We all have a role to play in protecting our only homes: we can use less plastic, drive less, waste less food and teach each other to care’ secretary-general, Antonio Guterres.

Just like philosopher Antonio said in the above statement, Makueni County used the UN Environment-led global event to showcase to the people the beauty of its natural environment on land and water and how to conserve.

County Warden addressing the crowd on importance of conservation

Mtito Andei been the host town, the department of Water, Irrigation and Environment (W.I.E) in Makueni County, partnered with Kenya Wildlife Service, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Serena Hotel, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), and primary school pupils joined hands to clean up the outskirts Mtito Andei town.

Stakeholders, partners and pupils cleaning the outskirts of Mtito Andei

To celebrate World Environment Day 2017, Kenya Wildlife Service offered free entrance to Tsavo West to those who participated in making the World Environment Day successful in Makueni County