Skip to content Skip to left sidebar Skip to footer

News

MAKUENI’S DEPARTMENT OF ICT, EDUCATION AND INTERNSHIP, HAS UNVEILED ITS STRATEGIC PLAN 2023-2027.

The Plan serves as a comprehensive roadmap, highlighting the trajectory of Makueni County’s transformative endeavors, propelled by technology and education.

The plans has harmonized objectives of the government’s key policies, including Makueni Vision 2025 and the County Integrated Development Plan III 2023 – 2027.

This Plan outlines the docket’s Strategic Vision for Technology Advancement which seeks to intensify the county’s digital landscape and harness technology in the department mandate.

The Plan was unveiled by Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr during the award of ECDE caregivers Permanent and Pensionable confirmation letters in Wote, Monday.

Makuenis’ Botanical Garden tops in the Exhibition Category at the KMCF

Kee Botanical Garden from Kaiti Sub- County has emerged position one in the Exhibitions Category in the National Kenya Music and Cultural Festival (KMCF) taking place in Kitui County.
The exhibition curated by Mike Mwendwa, who is also the founder and director of the garden, scored 90% , one of the highest marks ever scored by an exhibitor at the festival.
The adjudicators commended the botanical garden for a well curated exhibition and presentation of a wide variety of live traditional medicinal plants and products.
The exhibition stand attracted many participants in the festival and other visitors were curious to learn about the live traditional medicinal plants and products.
Cabinet Secretary for Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage Peninah Malonza and her Director of culture are among the prominent personalities who visited the exhibition and held long discussions with the exhibitor.

MAKUENI’S AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS STEAL THE SHOW AT AFRICA FERTILIZER SUMMIT 2024

May 9, 2024

The Makueni booth at the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit 2024 was a huge success, attracting over 1000 delegates from across Africa who convened at the KICC in Nairobi. 

The summit, themed “Listen to the Land,” brought together over 2000 delegates from across Africa to discuss fertilizer and soil health solutions for better agriculture. 

Makueni showcased a range of technologies for fertilizer and soil health solutions including push and pull, which entails use of legumes to repel pests, organic and inorganic fertilizers, and  use of GIS in natural resource management.

Makueni, supported by  Kenya Cereals Enhancement Programme-Climate Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods (KCEP-CRAL), conducted  soil analyses for over 16,000 farmers, guiding them on crop choices.

KCEP-CRAL facilitated the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices among farmers, such as deep tillage, and provided essential farm inputs like certified seeds,  hermetic bags and tarpaulins, through the e-voucher system

 Agriculture ExecutiveJoyce Mutua led the county’s delegation in the three-day summit, which concluded with  official closing by President William Ruto on Thursday.

MAKUENI YOUTH TO HACK THE FUTURE AT CLIMATE INNOVATION EVENT

Makueni County youths are gearing up to take center stage in the upcoming “Hack-a-GreenFuture” hackathon — a three-day, youth-led innovation challenge set for October 24–26, 2025 at Konza Technopolis.

The event organized in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme aims at harnessing the power of youth-driven technology and innovation to tackle climate resilience issues within the county and beyond.

Victor Apollo, Head of Solution Mapping and Timbuktoo Focal Point at Konza Technopolis, empasised on the transformative role of technology in addressing local challenges.

He spoke in Wote when he met top county officials.

County Secretary, Dr. Justin Kyambi affirmed the county government’s full support for youth initiatives and highlighted the broader scope of collaboration, including areas such as climate resilience, healthcare systems integration and intellectual property rights for innovations.

County Executive Committee Members, for Education and ICT, Japheth Mang’oka and Gender, Sebastian Kyoni also attended the meeting.

MAKUENI YOUTH POLICY

The policy focus on key sectors for better results and also recognizes Youth employment creation as a growing challenge and also attempts to provoke other County Departments with the opportunity to restructure and realign their implementation, coordination and monitoring mechanisms for effective service delivery to the youth. Clearly, now, more than ever before, is the time to collectively nurture, horn and proactively redirect the enterprising efforts of the Youth into the productive base of the National and County economies for rapid socio-economic development.

[wpdm_package id=7683 template=”link-template-calltoaction3.php”]
MAKUENI YOUTH POLICY

 

Makueni youth in Rwanda for continental networking summit

20 young people from Makueni are taking part in this year’s Youth Connect Africa summit staged in Kigali, Rwanda.

The summit brings together young people from across the continent to share ideas on the possible opportunities that they can collectively exploit to empower themselves and engineer the much needed continental transformation.

According to the organizers of the event, the forum seeks to connect 100 million young Africans, empower 25 million youth with skills, create 10 million jobs for the youth and nurture a million young leaders.

The three-day forum was officially opened by Rwandese Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente on Monday 8th.

Makueni governor Prof. Kivutha Kibwana, also addressed the forum on Tuesday 9th.

He challenged policy implementers to involve the youth in policy formulation and work with them on youth empowerment initiatives instead of working for them. He also called for a paradigm shift in youth mobilization as many miss opportunities for lack of information.

“For young people to be empowered, they have to be informed. Most ordinary youths miss opportunities because policy makers only target elite youths by means of communication,” he said.

Makueni County executive for Education, Youth, Sports and ICT Dr. Naomi Makau said the 20 youths from Makueni are in Rwanda to interact globally with other youths from the continent and learn from best practices on how to empower themselves.

Naomi said plans have been made to ensure the skills acquired from the forum cascade down to all the villages across the county.

The 20 were competitively selected from the six sub counties, with each sub county represented by three youths and two from the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service (M-YES).

An application to facilitate the youth networking will be launched at the end of the forum.

MAKUENI YAADHIMISHA SIKU YA KISWAHILI DUNIANI

Serikali ya Kaunti ya Makueni kupitia Idara ya Biashara, Masoko, Viwanda, Utamaduni na Utalii ikiongozwa na Waziri Sonia Nzilani leo imeadhimisha siku ya lugha ya Kiswahili duniani katika shule ya upili ya mabanati ya Makueni.

Siku ya Lugha ya Kiswahili Duniani ilianza Julai 7, elfu mbili na ishirini na mbili. Maadhimisho haya yalianzishwa na shirika la UNESCO ili kutambua umuhimu wa Kiswahili, lugha inayozungumzwa na watu wengi zaidi barani Afrika. Siku hii inaadhimisha jukumu la lugha katika kukuza tofauti za kitamaduni, kukuza umoja, na kuwezesha mawasiliano katika bara la Afrika na kwingineko.

Daktari Sonia aliwahimiza wanafunzi kutilia mkazo lugha ya Kiswahili kwa masomo yao kwa sababu lugha hii ni tajika na imeweza kufanywa lugha rasmi katika Jumuia ya Afrika Mashariki na Kati na pia kuanzishwa katika mitaala katika nchi za Magharibi. Maadhimisho haya yalihusu michezo ya kuigiza, neno nenwa, hadithi za urafa, utangazaji na nyimbo za Utamaduni.

Kwa kuongezea, lengo kuu la idara ya Utamanduni, Muziki na Sanaa Makueni ni kujenga tamaduni zetu na kuhakikisha lugha ya Kiswahili inaleta hisia za stahiki na ubunifu katika shule zetu na kwingineko.

Baadhi ya waliokuwemo ni mwalimu mkuu Bi. Mary Akoth, mkurungezi wa Utalii Bi. Dianah Muli miongoni mwa maafisa na waalimu wengine. Kwengineko, Maadhimisho kama haya Afrika Mashariki yalifanyika katika Ngome ya Yesu (Fort Jesus) leo kufuatia usiku wa Kiswahili uliosherehekewa hapo jana.

KiswahiliKidumu

Makueni, World Vision Partnership to Quench Kalawa Ward

Kalawa ward is arguably one of the driest parts of Makueni county, perpetually battling water scarcities.

On a normal day, residents have to trek a considerable distance to fetch water from points that the county government has continued to develop across the expansive ward.

A partnership between the county government and World Vision is however projected to change the above scenario and make the ward one of the water secure wards in the county.

The two institutions are co-funding a project dubbed Athi-Kalawa Sanitation Project meant to distribute water to 80 % of the ward area.

The project involves pumping water from Athi River to Wii hills, construction of a treatment plant, construction of a 500 cubic meters reservoir and three distribution lines (Kalawa, Miangeni and Syotuvali) for communal water circulation.

World Vision national director Lilian Dodzo who paid a courtesy call to governor Kivutha Kibwana on Tuesday, to discuss the project progress, said the project purposes to cut the distance to the nearest water point from households to a maximum of 500 meters.

According to County Executive Committee member for Water and Sanitation Rosemary Maundu, the project is 30 percent done and phase 1 must be complete before end of the year 2020.

Makueni women sensitized on online entrepreneurship

The State Department for Gender has kicked off a sensitization drive on the 50 Million African Women Speak Project in Makueni seeking to connect local women entrepreneurs to their peers in 38 African countries.
 
50 Million African Women Speak project is a digital platform designed to provide a one-stop shop for information on how to run business, accessing financial services, creating business opportunities online and access to training resources in 38 African countries.
 
Florence Chemutai, an official of the department, urged women from Makueni to register for the Pan-African networking platform that is meant to connect 50 Million African women in business.
 
She spoke at Mukuyuni on Thursday during the official launch of the sensitization drive in an event attended by governor Kivutha Kibwana and his deputy Adelina Mwau.
 
Chemutai said the networking platform is a web and mobile-based application expected to directly impact African women and create a fair-waged job for both young people and women from the increased business activities and capital flow.
 
Mwau cited lack of access to capital as the main hindrance to the empowerment of women in Makueni, adding that such technology will open markets for mango fruit farmers among others.
 
Mwau described the initiative as “a very practical way of speaking to the general agenda of empowering women” with its business resources and custom-built social networking features already attracting thousands of women and connecting them to do business with each other and share experiences in ways that were previously not possible.
 
Governor Kibwana on his part emphasized that the program will give Makueni women a chance to showcase their products and link with a market of millions across Africa, in addition to leveraging on opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and mentorship as part of a vigorous online community of entrepreneurs.
  • October 2, 2020 in News

MAKUENI WOMEN GROUP GOAT PROJECT WINS BIG AT NAIROBI TRADE FAIR.

Utheu wa Aka Self-Help Group was started in 1998 in Kikumbulyu South by 22 women, mostly widows, with a simple idea—pooling just Ksh 5 weekly to support each other.

What began as a merry-go-round to buy kitchenware, household items and even build homes for vulnerable members soon grew into something bigger.

Before devolution, the group received a grant of Ksh 120,000 from the Njaa Marufuku Kenya initiative.

Instead of spending the money at once, they wisely invested in dairy goats to fight famine and provide their families with nutritious milk.

With guidance from county livestock extension officers, they later adopted Toggenburg goat farming, which soon caught the eye of agricultural experts in the county.

Their goats earned recognition and were presented at the Makueni Agricultural Show, where they won top awards for three consecutive years.

Inspired by their success, the group advanced to the Nairobi International Trade Fair in 2022, winning trophies for champion male and female meat goats.

While visiting their stand at this year’s International Trade Fair, County Assembly Speaker Mbilu Douglas and the Agriculture Sectoral Committee commended the group for their remarkable success in scooping two champion trophies and 26 awards.

Beyond trophies, goat farming has become a steady source of income, transforming livelihoods and aligning with Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr ’s vision to empower women and youth.

Additionally, as a result of sustaining excellent performance, two members of the group have earned a slot in officiating at the international trade fair’s goat section.