Youth Initiative

Grant Proposal Sheet

I. Organization Information:

Organization Name: ActionAid International (AAI) and ActionAid Kenya (AAK)

Address: ActionAid International
Postnet Suite 248
Private Bag X31
Saxonwold 2132
Johannesburg
South Africa

Phone: +44 (0) 203 122 0665 (Sarah) and + 44 (0) 203 122 0504 (David)
Proposal Contact Name/Title: Sarah Huxley (Global Youth & Child Rights Coordinator, AAI) and David
Archer (Head of Programme Development, AAI)
Proposal Contact Email: sarah.huxley@actionaid.org / david.archer@actionaid.org
Tax Contact (Grant Signatory)/Title: David Archer

Tax Status:
ActionAid International is incorporated in South Africa under section 21A of the Companies Act 1973.
Registration number: 2004/007117/10

Bank Information:
Bank Name: Standard Chartered Bank
Account Number: 01254 008850 (USD)
Sort code: 60 91 04
IBAN: GB93SCBL60910412540088
ABA/SWIFT: SCBLGB2L
Beneficiary Name: ActionAid International
Bank Address: UK Banking Standard Chartered, 1 Basinghall Avenue, London. EC2V 5DD

Leadership:
1. David Archer - Head of Programme Development, AAI

David Archer is Head of Programme Development with ActionAid, having been Head of Education for many
years. He has worked with ActionAid for over 20 years.

Since the late 1990s David has worked with ActionAid on rights-based approaches to education and the
building of civil society coalitions on education across Africa, Asia and Latin America. From 2002-2008 he
chaired the management committee of the Commonwealth Education Fund (a joint initiative with Oxfam
and Save the Children, set up by Gordon Brown). He is a co-founder and board member of the Global
Campaign for Education (see www.campaignforeducation.org) and is the elected representative of northern
civil society organisations on the board of the Global Partnership for Education. David manages the Right
to Education Project (see www.right-to-education.org). He has written extensively on education, including
on the evolution of NGO approaches, the impact of IMF macro-economic policies (Confronting the
Contradictions, ActionAid 2007), the global crisis in HIV and Education (The Politics of Prevention, Pluto
Books 2009), quality aid to education (Fund the Future, GCE 2011) and human rights based approaches to
development.

In 2011 David facilitated the development of ActionAid’s new International strategy for 2012-2017 and then
compiled “People’s Action in Practice”; ActionAid definitive resource book on using a human rights based
approach. He now manages the Programme Development Unit in ActionAid’s International Secretariat
offering strategic direction to programme and policy work on land rights, sustainable livelihoods, democratic
governance, tax justice, youth engagement, climate change, disaster risk reduction and women’s rights –
as well as education.

2. Sarah Huxley – Global Youth & Child Rights Coordinator, AAI

Sarah has been actively engaged in youth focused development work since 1999, with direct experience in
child and youth rights, programme management and policy research in Nepal, Uganda & the UK, with a
diverse range of organisations, including small NGOs, international agencies, DfID and the UN. She has a
breadth of experience in youth programming and engagement, advocacy, partnership development, as well
as capacity building.

She was the project manager and lead writer for the DFID-CSO Youth Participation in Development guide
(2010), which was subsequently adopted for the UN IATT on youth, and from which the USAID Youth
Policy (2012) draws heavily from. She also co-authored the first crowd sourced UN World Youth Report on
Youth voices on employment (2011/12). She has worked with ActionAid since June 2012.

3. Tennyson Williams – Country Director, AAK

4. Makena Mwobobia – Head of Policy and Programmes, AAK
5. Philip Kilonzo - Technical Advisor - Natural Resources & Livelihoods, AAK
6. Aftab Alam – Livelihoods and Food Security Coordinator, AAI

At a federation level, this pilot project will be overseen by the Strategic Oversight Team on Key Change
Promise 6: Youth Engagement. This consists of 11 members from across the federation who include
country directors, functional leads (on communications etc.), as well as the Head of ActionAid
International’s Country Coordination unit.

Within AAK, the project will be coordinated by a project accountability team coordinated by the Strategic
Objective Accountability Team (SOAT) for Objective 2. This SOAT meeting is convened by AAK’s
Technical Advisor – Natural Resource and Livelihoods with participation of other senior level management
of AAK including Programme Managers, Head of Policy and Programmes, the Programme Quality and
Effectiveness coordinator and members of the finance team.
AA International Board of Directors:

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AA International’s Board of Directors consists of eleven individuals. Below are their summary profiles. For
further information, see: http://www.actionaid.org/who-we-are/our-structure-and-governance/international-
board-members

1. International Board Chair: Irene Ovonji-Odida, is a Ugandan human rights lawyer and activist with 21
years’ experience in development work with marginalised groups in society including women and
pastoralists. She has worked in the public sector in law reform and on public sector ethics for eight
years and been an elected a legislator in the East Africa regional parliament for five years. Irene has
been involved with ActionAid in Uganda since 2003, becoming national board Chair in 2005. She is the
convenor of the International Governance & Board Development Committee and was elected as
International Board Chair in June 2009.

2. Board member and Treasurer: Michael D Lynch-Bell is a partner in the United Kingdom firm of Ernst &
Young LLP, an assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services firm. He has spent over 37 years in
Ernst & Young specialising in the provision of services to natural resources companies and in stock
exchange transactions. 

3. Board member: Mr. Poguri Chennaiah, Indian is a social activist, engaged with the rural poor,
especially Dalits and agricultural workers, for nearly three decades. He has been instrumental in taking
up the cause of agricultural labour through various campaigns for land rights.

4. Board member: Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Zimbabwean, is the General Secretary of the World
YWCA, which unites 25 million women and girls in 125 countries. She has over ten years of experience
with the United Nations, where she served as Regional Director for the United Nations Development
Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Eastern Africa. She joined the board of ActionAid International in
September 2008 as an Independent Trustee.

5. Board member: Alexandra Mitsotaki, she is a founder of ActionAid Hellas, established in 1998, and
joined the Board of ActionAid International in 2003.

6. Board member: Matteo Passini, Italian, is Chief Executive Officer of BIT spa which specialises in local
financing of cooperative credit and food farming banks. He is also a lecturer in Ethical Finance at the
University of Bologna. Matteo was elected as Chair of the Actionaid Italy Board in January 2007, and
joined the Board of ActionAid International in January of the same year.

7. Board member: Roberto Kishinami is one of the best known environmentalists in Brazil. He is a key
analyst of the energy sector and on climate change. He has been strongly engaged on many civic
mobilizations towards social justice and sustainability, was a founder of the worker´s party, contributing
to re-democratization of Brazil and the advancement of labour rights and social justice. Kishinami was
chair of ActionAid Brazil from 2002 to 2007.

8. Board member: Mr Kibuga Kariithi (Kibby) is the CEO of KARMA, a family office and Jamii Bora
Management services, the group office of the Jamii Bora Group of Companies, a financial services
group targeting the poor in Kenya. Mr. Kariithi is a founder of Baraka Africa Fund and a Director of
Afrika Investment Bank, a member of the Nairobi Stock Exchange, with responsibility for corporate
finance in Eastern Africa. He is a Board member of the Mathare Youth Sports Association – a slum
youth programme.

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9. Board member: Chiara Somajni is a journalist. Since 1991 she's been working for the Italian financial
newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, mainly as staff editor and writer at the cultural supplement Domenica. She
first joined ActionAid Italy's general assembly in 2004, becoming national board chair in 2009. She was
elected to the international board in June 2012.

10. Board member: Mar. Vijay Krishna Shunglu is the former Comptroller and Auditor General,
Government of India. He has more than three decades of experience as a government official with
special expertise in finance and auditing.

11. Board member: Trine Pertou Mach, studied political science in Denmark and is specialised in civil
society development, democratisation and human rigths, with a specific focus on women's rights. She's
been living and working in the Middle East. Her professional career includes working for the European
Commission in Cairo, European Parliament in Brussels, for ActionAid Denmark, International Media
Support and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. Since 2007 she has been chairing the board of
Action Aid Denmark since 2007.

Below is a list of ActionAid Kenya’s Board members (further information can be provided on request)

NAME OF BOARD MEMBER DESIGNATION IN BOARD

1. Antigone Lyberaki AAI representative c/o AAI Greece
2. Elizabeth Wakilo Treasurer
3. Fatuma Ahmed Member
4. Francis Odaro Opetu Member
5. Francis Xavier Mayaka Member
6. Haji Mohammed Mwakio Member
7. Halake Dido Chairperson
8. Isabella Mwagodi Member
9. Paul Kiayai Leringato Member
10. Irene Tulel Member
11. Mwita Nyangi Member
12. Dr. Margaret Jesang Hutchinson Vice Chairperson

Organization Description of ActionAid International

ActionAid, established in the UK in 1972 and headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, reaches more
than 25 million people around the world each year through its work at local, national, regional and
international levels. Originally focused on helping poor children gain access to primary education in Kenya,
ActionAid International (AAI) has since made great strides in addressing the root causes and impacts of
poverty and exclusion worldwide. The organization now operates in 45 countries in Africa, Asia, the
Americas, the Middle East and Europe, working with local communities, national governments and global
institutions to fight for the rights of the world’s most excluded people.

After almost three decades focused on meeting the basic needs of people living in poverty, ActionAid
underwent a massive realignment in 1999 to become a rights-based organization, supporting local partners
and communities to understand and fight for their rights. In 2003, ActionAid moved its headquarters from

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London to Johannesburg and established itself as an international federation, with each member country
having an equal say in the governance and direction of the organization.

ActionAid believes that people living in poverty are best equipped to lead the changes that will end poverty
and injustice, and works to provide them with the knowledge, tools and capacity they need to demand the
fulfillment of their rights. ActionAid accomplishes this by linking work in communities with national
movements and regional and international policy work that holds decision-makers accountable to people
living in poverty.

ActionAid’s current strategy, People’s Action to End Poverty, commits the organization to achieving five
strategic objectives by 2017:

1. Promote sustainable agriculture and control natural resources for people living in poverty by
working with rural women and marginal and small-holder farmers to claim access to and control
over land and natural resources and holding their governments to account.
2. Advance the political influence of people living in poverty to hold governments and corporates
accountable by supporting people living in poverty to secure improvements in the quality, equity
and gender fairness of public services and redistribution of resources to finance public policies that
reduce poverty.
3. Improve the quality of public education for all children and support young people to become drivers
of change towards a poverty-free planet by ensuring that boys and girls equally enjoy a quality
public education that respects their rights, and mobilizing young people to take action.
4. Build the resilience of people living in poverty to conflicts and disasters and respond to disasters
with people-centered, rights-based alternatives by working with communities to build effective risk
reduction and resilience systems and taking a rights-based approach to long-term recovery in the
wake of disasters.
5. Ensure that women and girls can break the cycle of poverty and violence, build economic
alternatives and claim control over their bodies by working with women and girls to challenge and
reject gender-related violence, build gender-based economic alternatives, and break the cycle of
poverty.

We believe that the solution to poverty lies in a global movement that is led by poor and excluded people
acting against poverty; cutting across national and south-north boundaries. ActionAid is committed to
working with young people to drive change. We do this by engaging young women and men in our
development programmes, and through poverty-focused campaigning efforts to address social injustices.
We tackle systemic injustices across our work on education, women’s rights, governance and resilient
livelihoods. Our young partners are integral members throughout our networks and alliances: ensuring that
we strive to overcome unjust power structures.

ActionAid International is bound together by a unifying set of core values and a common vision, identity,
mission and strategy, with shared standards and systems for collective and determined action across
organisational and national boundaries. ActionAid International was founded on a mutual respect for
democracy and diversity. This makes our governance resilient and enhances our legitimacy and
accountability to our supporters, collaborators and partners and to poor and excluded people in the
countries where we work.

ActionAid International’s Revenue Model and Financial Health

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ActionAid raises more than $300 million each year in support of its work around the world. The vast
majority of funds come from individual donors, primarily located in Europe. In 2011, approximately $171
million was raised in from individuals in the forms of sponsorship, regular giving and emergency support.
ActionAid also receives a good deal of support from official and/or government funds, having raised over
$91.4 million from governments in Europe and Australia and the UN. About $17.6 million was raised in
2011 from private trusts, foundations, corporations and NGOs. The remaining support comes from
investments, interest, exchange rate gains and sale of fixed assets.

We benefit from longstanding and robust relationships with many institutional donors, both bilateral and multilateral,
including:
1. Government of Denmark
2. Government of United Kingdom
3. Government of Netherlands
4. Government of Australia
5. Government of Ireland
6. European Union
7. United Nations - WFP and other UN agencies
8. Comic Relief
9. The Big Lottery Fund
10. Tubney Charitable Trust Fund
11. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
12. Human Dignity Foundation
13. Pharo Foundation
14. Rush Foundation
15. Qatar Foundation
16. Ford Foundation

In 2011, official income contributed 31% of our total income. For further information, we can send our
annual financial report.

ActionAid started work in Kenya in 1972 and ActionAid Kenya has been a full Affiliate of ActionAid
International since June 2009, having its own national board and assembly. For 2012, its programme
expenditure was €18million: with income generated through both restricted and unrestricted forms from a
variety of sources, including foundations/trusts, and individuals. However, the most considerable income
source was for Emergency Food Aid from the World Food Program, which accounted for €11m.

For historic, strategic, financial and programming reasons, AAK plays a significant role in our global
federation, and is a strong and active country in relation to our youth engagement mandate and strategic
priorities (as outlined on p.5). This is demonstrated through AAK’s existing work with youth, including in the
areas of governance and education.

The following chart includes ActionAid International headline financial figures for our last 3 financial years.

ActionAid International headline financial figures (reported in Euros)

6
 Year Total Voluntary Official
Income Income1 Income

2012 219m 144m 66m2

2011 224m 143m 70m

2010 231m 148m 72m

Notes:
The above figures for 2012 are provisional (as of May 2012, awaiting final statement from AAI auditors).
Other sources of income (including, investment, sale of fixed assets, forex gains/losses, are not included in the above table).

Perceptions of ActionAid amongst our institutional partners

ActionAid has a solid track record with a wide variety of donors, peers, and technical specialists. Below is a
selection of our partnerships (more information is available on request).

DFID
ActionAid has a longstanding institutional relationship with the UK’s Department of International
Development. This was reaffirmed with the award of the Programme Partnership Agreement (PPA) in 2011,
through which ActionAid is one of the largest CSO recipients of grant funds from DFID.

ActionAid is seen by DFID as a reliable partner, as well as a resource for information relating to several
areas of international development, including participatory and community level engagement and human
rights based approaches. They value our work both on a programmatic level, as well as an experiential
resource for their staff (i.e. through immersions).

This is demonstrated by the fact that the PPA review of October 2012 reiterated DFID’s belief that “the PPA
investment represents value for money for DFID” and has subsequently extended the PPA period by an
additional year, taking us to 2015. Furthermore, senior DFID officials are regular participants in our
Immersions programme. This offers the opportunity for practitioners and supporters to live and work in one
of our Local Rights Programmes for a number of days, so as to experience first-hand the challenges that
people living in poverty face, and some of the impressive achievements from our partnerships with them.
The Immersions alumni include the former Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell, and DFID’s
former Director for Programmes in Africa, Marcus Manual.
Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief
ActionAid has a wide range of grant projects sponsored by the UK’s Big Lottery Fund, dedicated to
supporting some of our most disadvantaged rights holders.

1
Voluntary income includes “Committed Giving” (regular giving, the majority through Child Sponsorship) and
“other donations” (this is primarily made up of Legacies, and donations from companies).
2
The most significant funders were the Government of Denmark €26m, Government of the UK (DFID) €8m and
European Union €8m, in 2012

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In Kenya, Comic Relief has supported our work with women and children living with and affected by HIV
and AIDS. Our programme performance was commended (with a “green rating”, the highest possible), by
Comic Relief on completion of the latest phase of the five year programme, concluded in December 2012.

Swedish Development Agency

From the external evaluation of ActionAid conducted in early 2013, auditors commissioned on behalf of
SIDA, stated that in relation to ActionAid International: “ Particular emphasis is placed on actively engaging
with those they work with and involving them in such a way that projects become self-sufficient and
populations empowered. As a result, there is a strong emphasis on participation, democratic values, and
taking a bottom-up approach.”

Our Awards
Our approach positions us as a leader, pioneering the use of participatory tools for development, which is
demonstrative of our community focused and led approach. This is not only successful, but is also cost
effective: the impact of our work will continue after we have left. We also have a unique commitment to
transparency and accountability - The One World Trust named us the top performer among surveyed
INGOs for our commitment to transparency. We have won five UN literacy prizes for our Reflect work. In
2009 we won the European Public Affairs Best NGO Award in recognition of our work worldwide. We were
recognised within the sector in 2006, winning ‘Britain’s Most Admired Charity’.

International Partnerships
ActionAid is a leader in partnership working. The combination of our commitment to working with people
living in poverty and their organisations (that ensures we are rooted in the community, able to respond
appropriately to local needs and are able to operate in a highly cost-effective manner) and our federal
model, grants us a unique capability to provide leadership in building and supporting movements and
alliances, at national, regional and international levels.

We work with over 2000 partners globally, from small community-based organisations to larger regional
and international networks. This builds the strength of civil society in the countries where we work and
supports poor people to hold their governments, regional and international authorities and organisations –
public and private alike – to account.

Some examples of our contribution to international networks include:

The International Food Security Network (IFSN): implemented by ActionAid and 12 official partners work in
partnership with more than 1,400 local, national and international civil society organizations in more than 30
countries across Funded through the European Commission, the IFSN is committed to strengthen
continents. and consolidate the EC co-funded project “Building an International Civil Society
http://www.ifsn.info/ Network for Food Security,” which has already demonstrated the effectiveness of
The IFSN is a great networking in increasing the capacity of CSOs to bring the voices of more
vulnerable groups to the arenas of policy making, implementation and monitoring.
example of how our In the previous project, whose primary outcome was to create and strengthen 11
work at international national networks in the core countries, a total of 26 networks were in fact created.
level can have a direct The results were therefore greater than expected in 15 non-core countries.
impact right down to
the community level The IFSN networks, together with our national HungerFREE campaign, have
played a pivotal role in civil society mobilisation around the food crisis. We
(see text box). achieved a major success by securing three more years of funding from the EU for
the network and supporting national farmers’ movements in many countries,
helping them to participate in regional federations and platforms such as Via
Campesina, the Pan African Farmers’ Platform (which brings together four sub-
regional farmers’ platforms),8and the American network Coprofam. Joint activities
with these networks helped influence processes such as regional integration in the
Americas, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Programme and the Alliance for
a Green Revolution in Africa.
At the local level, our approach is based on helping our partners to be more effective and efficient and
maximise the impact of our collective effort. This includes support to develop programming, support to
organise more effectively, financial management capacity-building and help to develop strategic plans. Our
overall approach for working with partners is outlined by our Accountability Learning and Planning System
(ALPS), and includes participatory review and planning activities.

ActionAid International is a founder and one of two international NGOs elected as board members of
“Global Campaign for Education” (GCE) a civil society movement that aims to end the global education
crisis. http://www.campaignforeducation.org/en/. ActionAid has played a pivotal role in supporting national
education coalitions that are members of GCE across over 50 countries, including through chairing and
hosting the Commonwealth Education Fund (set up by Gordon Brown and run from 2002-08) and
conceiving the Civil Society Education Fund that is now run by GCE with a $17.5 million grant from the
Global Partnership for Education.

Total organizational budget:

ActionAid Kenya operates an average annual budget of 1 billion KES or 8 million pounds.

Grant Income and Goods in Kind  

Grant Income
  2012 2011
  KShs‘000 KShs‘000

ActionAid International (AAI) Affiliates grant income 459,603 511,766

WFP - management fee and transport reimbursements 124,646 106,222
Civil Society Fund (CSF) 7,026 9,629
The Safaricom Foundation 866 19,854
PACT KENYA(Now ACT KENYA) 5,978 6,110
UNDP-Amkeni Project 8,152 1,832
Global Fund Round 7 14,091 8,072
Improving Education for Nomadic Children 4,083 -
ActionAid Australia 54,441 6,906
Policy Dialogue on Land 4,223 -
Kenya Land Alliance 2,129 -
Unicef Protection Project 5,460 -
MS Denmark - DANIDA 55,785 74,447
MS Denmark – Danish TV Collection 5,551 10,010
Kenya Power and Lighting 5,323 15,268
MS-Denmark - P4C & Other 29,135 11,603
Big Lottery Funds – SVAGs 31,376 26,551
Comic Relief 16,537 15,937
DfID – Conflict Sensitive Approaches 7,750 12,512
NIZA 25,156 3,663
Actionaid Denmark-Youth Empowerment Project 11,724 5,020

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KDRP(DEC,EAF,AGIRE,CAT,CAM,MOR) 177,019 110,325
Emergency Relief Fund 166 27,291
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 15,704 485
Kirira Foundation 932 3,696
Actionaid Denmark 21,173 20,158
Women Participation in Leadership 22,339 -
Others 9,973 3,227

  1,126,341 1,010,584

Goods in kind (WFP) 1,073,369 817,186

For ActionAid International, please refer to the table Headline Figures of ActionAid International earlier in
this proposal.

Previous funding received from OSI (amounts, dates and projects):

The following table includes all contract information relating of OSI funded projects that ActionAid has
delivered, or is ongoing, globally:

Co-funders on project:
For this pilot project, we intend to co fund this initiative via two sources:

1. From AAK’s Innovation Fund via AusAid (18 million Kenya shillings; approx. £135,000) and
2. Core Child Sponsorship funds through AA Kenya. This will cover several operational costs, such as
the time of the LRP and finance managers in supporting this project, other staff providing technical

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 back up to the project, as well as contributions towards the overhead costs of running the AAK
office.

Should AAI choose to develop/scale up the project into additional countries, which is our current intention,
we would seek to leverage additional sources of revenue (potentially from Foundations such as the
Rockerfeller Foundation, the Pamela and Robert Mace Legacy Foundation and/or the Ikea Foundation).

Total organization budget for current Fiscal Year

1. AAI (the federation): 204.3 million Euros
2. AAK (inclusive of deficit): 7.2 million Euros

Current Fiscal Year End Date:

December 2013

What is your current social media presence and do you have plans to expand your online presence?
The ActionAid federation and our youth network Activista use blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
across more than 25 countries to raise awareness and mobilise young people around campaigns activities
We currently have 10,266 followers on the AAI Twitter account, which is the main international account;
and we have 15,978 likes on the AAI Facebook page.  

In the last year, we have started to engage supporters and communities in our Local Rights Programmes
via SMS, linking up SMS messages received from communities with Twitter. This has allowed Twitter users
to view these messages and respond, enabling them to have conversations with people in rural
communities. This approach has been hugely successful so far, particularly around World Food Day, which
AAK was an active key contributor to.
 
We run regular social media training programmes for our Activista network, to teach them how to take
photographs, write blogs and create films, as well as how to use Twitter and Facebook in order to run
effective campaigns and organise events and activities.  This speaks to our global engagement strategy, as
our Activista network is becoming increasingly empowered to organise local campaigns and platform the
voices of our supporters and the communities we work with across the 45 countries that ActionAid works in.

In 2013/14 we plan to experiment widely with other social media channels as well, such as: google+, tumblr
and pin interest – in order to seek more effective ways of programming and campaigning.

What are the challenges your organization might face in implementing this project?
Below is an overview of potential challenges for this pilot project, as well as suggested mitigation
measures. These would be further explored with key stakeholders during the planning phase.

Key Challenges Mitigation Measures

Internal:
Staffing and Partner capacity
External:
Backlash/resistance from those that
benefit from economic suppression of
young women and young men
Timely recruitment; appropriate induction; creation of team
approach to the task
Engage in dialogue, look for common causes/solidarity;
strengthen campaigning, link to other aspects of AA
programmes, awareness raising and transparent

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 information

Low participation of female youth Proactively seek to ensure young women are part of the
project

Mixed/male youth groups feel left out & Amplify the project benefits through campaigning and
are passively or actively disruptive mobilization of youth in campaign events. Engage youth in
planning, implementation and evaluation.

High mobility amongst diverse youth Sustain commitment through demonstration of results;
create a hierarchy of the process – junior, student level and
out of school engagements

II. Project Summary

Project Title: Active learning with diverse youth: re-energising climate resilient sustainable agricultural
practices to improve food security

Grant Period: November 2013 – November 2016

Executive Summary:
This proposed project is collaboration between ActionAid International and ActionAid Kenya. It aims to
capture the process of action learning for diverse youth living in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands
(ASALs), in order for them to be able to pursue a future dedicated to climate resilient sustainable
agriculture and food security. So that the young people we work with can learn about CSRA and promote
its values within their communities.

Geographic focus: Year 1 – Kenya focusing mainly on semi-arid areas around the Victoria Basin; 7 Local
Rights Projects (LRPs)3; Kongelai, Tangulbei, Kuria, and Khwisero, Mwingi, Makima, and Isiolo LRPs).
Local Rights Projects are our long term engagement in particular communities. The latter 3 LRPs will see
some of the activities being supported by an on-going project funded by AusAid. Year 2 and 3 will include
shared learning and then adaptation of relevant aspects of the project in one West African country,
probably Sierra Leone.

Project Goal: To cultivate climate resilient sustainable agriculture practices amongst diverse youth via non
formal and formal active learning (reflection action processes), in order to improve food security amongst
rural youth (in and out of school, male and female).

Project Objectives:
1. To develop non formal participatory training modules (for out of school youth), and a transformative
formal curriculum (for in school youth using similar active learning approaches) on climate resilient
3
AA Kenya believes it is important to work in both semi-arid (ASALs) and arid regions. Kuria and Kwisero are the
only sites in medium/ high potential areas (arid). The others are located in ASAL counties. Furthermore, the Kenya
Institute for Curriculum Development is interested to develop a cross cutting module that can be implemented across
the country and therefore representation of these areas will serve the purpose. AA Kenya is already present in these
areas, thus providing opportunity for mainstreamed implementation.

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 sustainable agriculture and food security. [To be approved by the government of Kenya over the
course of the pilot].
2. To promote adoption and utilization of resilient agriculture production and processing approaches
to ensure food security and climate resilience.
3. To increase the life and leadership skills of both in and out of school youth by fostering their sense
of self belief, solidarity and knowledge of community development processes (attitudinal changes).
4. To strengthen relevant youth and livelihood policies and practice (including access to and uptake of
devolved funds) at national and county levels through campaigning.

Problem Statement:
Young women and men are often some of the most invisible and excluded groups in communities. Political
decision makers often praise young people’s practices in surviving, but rarely provide the policy resources
and support needed to succeed. This global picture is no different in Kenya. And it is for this reason why it
is crucial to give greater visibility - not only to the learning and agricultural/livelihood needs and issues of
youth - but also to demonstrate how they can be a part of the solution. This is the foundation of our work
with and for youth at ActionAid, see for more information: http://www.actionaid.org/publications/how-we-are-
working-youth-fighting-poverty-and-social-injustices

For us ‘youth’ is a word which encapsulates a heterogeneous category. Our definition focuses first on the
socio-political identity of young people who are seeking the rights and independence that adulthood should
bring, but often denied. It is a contested term by its very nature, and definitions vary: we use 15-30 as a
guide.

Globally there is an ageing agricultural sector. Developed countries such as the USA were able to forestall
the collapse of their ageing agriculture sector in the 1980s through mobilizing the interest of youth back into
the contemporary agriculture sector (via projects such as the Youth Agriculture project of the University of
Vermont, USA). This is contrary to what is happening in many African countries, including Kenya. The
average age of a farmer in Africa is 60. This shortsightedness is now impacting the sector 4.

It is therefore imperative for Kenya to mobilize diverse youth in order to re-energize the agriculture sector.
In Kenya, leading political parties and their coalitions’ manifestos in 2013 had two overarching promises for
youth: food security and better employment opportunities. The manifestos are less pragmatic on how these
twin issues will be addressed, especially in the context of decentralization of government structures. This
project is therefore a bold attempt to provide an alternative on how to begin to resolve these two
challenges. It aims to transform attitudes of young people towards Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture
(CRSA), who are both in and out of school and provide relevant skills and support networks.

About 65 percent of Kenya’s population lives in rural areas, and they depend mainly on labour -intensive
agriculture and natural resources for their livelihood; this includes 87% of all poor Kenyan households (of
which about 36% comprise youth) 5. Agriculture contributes about 26% directly to GDP and a further 27%
through links with other sectors. It is a sector with great potential for growth and remains one of the major
employers of rural youth, directly or indirectly. 6

4
Source: http://globalfoodforthought.typepad.com/global-food-for-thought/2013/02/commentary-engaging-youth-
in-agriculture-investing-in-our-future.html.
5
UNDP Kenya HDR 2009
6
ibid p46

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School curricula however, has generally tended to undermine the value of resilient agricultural skills, and
alienate young Kenyans from careers in the sector. Many school-goers (both male and female) consider
agricultural work to be for ‘those who have not gone to school’ or for those young people with failed
educational aspirations.

In arid and semi-arid areas of the country, many young Kenyans have observed repeated crop failures and
losses, caused by a number of factors notably the level of practice of sustainable approaches, farmers
attitudes that do not favor sustainable approaches, and low state support directed towards farmers. This
further alienates young people from taking up agricultural careers. Farmers and agro pastoralists are
struggling to cope with these challenges. Unfortunately to date, training approaches both in and out of
school have not made significant progress in addressing this challenge.

Both the ‘push’ out of agriculture and the ‘pull’ towards urban life mean that about 94% of unemployed
young people in Kenya are looking for paid employment in the formal sector resulting in fierce competition
for the few available formal jobs and spiraling urban poverty - as agriculture in rural areas suffer loss of
manpower.7 Addressing these issues and creating an environment where agriculture becomes a pro-active
choice and a vibrant livelihood path will be central to this project.

Target Numbers in Kenya: ActionAid seeks to train 1750 youth (male and female) in school; to develop the
CRSA and life skills of 3500 youth (male and female) out of school; to equip 70 youth peer trainers; to
inform 35,000 community members (including small holder farmers) and duty bearers through campaign
related activities; and to train 70 teachers (see the results framework for more information).

Project Description:
This pilot project aims to greatly extend work begun by AAK in 2012 engaging with primary students to
develop their skills and knowledge in the area of farming. Since 2012, AAK has been partnering with the
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to develop materials and effective approaches to
introduce junior ‘farmer field schools’ into selected primary schools in Isiolo and Mwingi. The ‘Farmer Field
Schools’ is a participatory methodology that was developed by the Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) to test new farming and agricultural technologies.

The proposed project has two central tenants to its theory of change: the need to change attitudes to
encourage diverse youth to embrace CRSA as a viable livelihood option, and secondly to demonstrate the
role that active learning/ non formal approaches can play in developing the skills and knowledge of youth in
CRSA.

What is Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA)?

It is an approach to incorporate in our work on agriculture, food security and food sovereignty the new challenges posed by
climate change and its impacts on poor people’s lives. CRSA is based on the identification of major risks that the local
communities face, and/or are likely to face in the near future, and on the design and implementation of site-specific adaptation
strategies aimed at reducing vulnerabilities, enhance food security, and increasing the resistance and resilience of the
smallholder production systems.

Most sustainable agricultural practices are site-specific; they depend on the environmental, social, cultural, and economic
conditions of the place that originate it, and therefore are more in tune with local contexts and needs.
The starting point of our proposal to design local sustainable alternatives is the knowledge and practices of the community
themselves, and the combination of these local knowledge and practices with scientific knowledge and sustainable technologies.

7
UNDP HDR p73

14
Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture departs from the best models and knowledge (traditional and scientific knowledge) we
have about sustainable agriculture practices and about the possible impacts of climate change in a given area.

Our Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture Initiative is based on four main approaches, and seven pillars.

Four Main Approaches:

1. Conducting participatory appraisal to identify local potentials and political and technical challenges
2. Identifying, documenting, testing and disseminating local knowledge/alternative practices and encouraging local innovation
3. Promoting sustainability through appropriate agricultural research and extension services based on technologies that reduce
dependence on external inputs and agro-chemicals, help adapt to climate change, build on and reinforce local knowledge
4. Empowering farming communities to promote sustainable agriculture through local, national and global campaigning actions
for policy and budgetary changes in favour of smallholders

This pilot project will examine CRSA through the lens of our Seven Pillars:
1. Gender Equity and Women’s Rights
2. Soil Conservation
3. Sustainable Water Management
4. Agro-Biodiversity Preservation
5. Livelihood Diversification
6. Processing and Market Access
7. Supporting Farmers’ Organizations

AA will use this pilot project as an opportunity to explore (in the Kenyan context) the Institute of
Development Studies, UK (IDS’s) concept of ‘opportunity space’ for different youth (in and out of school,
male and female). IDS suggest that a young person’s ability to successfully exploit their ‘opportunity space’
in the agri-food sphere is a function of access to key resources; support from social relations and networks;
information, knowledge and skills; attitudes (e.g. towards risk and travel); imagination, alertness and ability
to judiciously exploit opportunities 8. We recognize that underlying causes of poverty and social injustice are
gendered, and therefore it will be imperative to set up a framework with the young men and women we
work from the start that allows for an analysis of exclusionary barriers.

Based on the learning to date in our youth programmes, and consistent with the notion of ‘opportunity
space’ outlined above, ActionAid proposes four key components to our theory of change:

i) Empowerment and capacity building

ii) Utilisation of practical skills via government collaboration
iii) Organising, networking and solidarity and
iv) Accountability, advocacy and campaigning

For clarity we have presented the approach in 4 stages, but the process is generally not linear and the 4
stages are not prescriptive or mutually exclusive (see attached results framework).

Component One: Empowerment and capacity building: We will initiate mobilization processes for both out-
of-school and in-school youth to analyze their existing understanding and perspectives on CRSA and the
broader context of the agricultural sector. This will be achieved using ActionAid’s Reflection Action (active
learning) processes, which is a form of life skill development based on non-formal education. It starts by
working with young people through understanding their existing knowledge 9 and lived experiences as a
foundation for bringing in new ideas, learning and information to seek solutions via critical analysis. Young
8
Sumberg et al. Introduction: The Young People and Agriculture ‘Problem’ in Africa Institute of Development
Studies and Futures group 2012

15
participants will engage in participatory appraisal to identify problems and solutions regarding food security
and farming (crops/soils/markets/food security) via developing local maps, calendars, matrices and
diagrams to analyse issues relating to CRSA and formal and informal power dynamics. The outcome is
always distinct to the local context, but the key is the production by participants of a local development
action plan that builds on existing / traditional knowledge and connects that with new knowledge and
insights, leading to practical approaches to revitalize the agricultural sector.

In the process the participants will develop a comprehensive understanding of the relevant structures, duty
bearers and institutions at country, sub county and national levels, including the roles/entry points with
ActionAid, KICD, and local government and planning. In the context of the decentralization of the
agriculture sector AAK intends to strengthen capacities of youth groups to engage with the County
government at various levels, notably at ward levels, in setting local priorities through planning processes;
at sub – county level pushing for intra-county equality in resource allocation; and at County level in charting
direction of the agriculture sector. Some of the subsectors that will be of focus for youth engagement
include the livestock, agriculture, water, irrigation and fisheries. The empowerment processes, practical
experiences, and strengthening of youth institutions will enable youth groups to develop structured dialogue
with these institutions at various levels of government,

Component Two: Utilisation of practical skills via government collaboration; In partnership with the Kenya
Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) we will support young men and women (both out of school and
in public schools) to analyse their livelihood challenges relating to CRSA and find alternatives. These young
men and women will be organized into groups via out of school youth groups and in school clubs, thus
creating the active learning spaces/platforms from which core modules on resilience, life skills, and aspects
of the value chain will be developed. Embedded in this is developing, piloting, implemention, re-evaluating
and improvement of training modules for both out of school and in school youth. Thus this pilot seeks to
work at a structural level through formal schools and the Institute of Curriulum Development – in order to
create a greater visability and acknowledgement of the role that active learning (non formal – learning by
doing) approaches can bring. Equally we aim to show the role and contributions that out of school youth
can bring to CRSA. The achievement of the vision will be a milestone towards creating structural changes
on CRSA via education approaches.

The modules will assist young people to understand and explore viable food security options based on their
local contexts and help to ‘re-brand’ agricultural-based livelihoods as a smart choice rather than a
‘graveyard’ for failed aspirations. In so doing, the project will provide access to tangible livelihood skills that
young citizens need to improve incomes, and help them to identify and access pathways to get the
resources (e.g. credit and extension support) that they need to transform these skills into higher incomes .
This will include exploring local agriculture value chains with young people, helping them to understand
how the market works and new (or perhaps non-traditional roles for young women) opportunities along the
value chain.

Component 3: Organising, networking and building solidarity: For Kenya’s young agriculturalists this will
include awareness (for example on new land laws and agricultural policies) and skills building,
advocacy/campaigning for representation in the devolved local land and agricultural structures. We will

9
So we do not start from a position where young people have no knowledge or power – rather a position from
which they are able to see what they already know and identify areas for further development.

16
support young men and young women to mobilize and influence emerging institutions, policies and legal
frameworks to promote the realization of their basic rights.

We will work to organize, strengthen and mobilise young women and men into appropriate groups,
organisations and structures that allow them to build awareness, become more conscious of their socio-
economic-political location as well as their capacity to influence change, build and strengthen those
capacities and skills, and increase their confidence and self-esteem to lead change efforts. We will help
them identify and work with important allies – which may include young people in other locations, older
women, family members, community leaders and local authorities.

We will also support research/mapping of services and entitlements, the level of take-up/quality of service,
and identify challenges and problems related to agriculture and food security etc. Based on this we will
identify key government schemes designed to benefit young people in rural locations and facilitate young
citizens in Kenya to access their entitlements under these schemes, to advocate for change if they are not
in existence or need monitoring and/or improvement.
Component 4: Accountability, campaigning and advocacy: Utilising an approach that has proven to be
effective, young women and men will be trained on budget literacy and a fairly simple social audit tool to be
able to evaluate, monitor and track various resources and their use in their communities and also to be able
to influence allocation of the resources to the needs prioritized by the people. These social auditors form
strong county networks and can play a watch-dog role of ensuring continued accountability and
transparency by the state. Youth-driven social audit networks are linked up at national level with the
national Social and Public Accountability Network.

In this project we will particularly look at youth social audit work on budgetary allocation and utilization in
the local agricultural sector. AA also intends to specifically look at the role of young women in social audits,
identifying the barriers that might prevent their engagement and exploring with them how these might be
overcome. Other trainings under this component will cover how to source and utilize factual information on
policies, processes and legal framework, tracking and monitoring of devolved funds (for example in Kenya
the Constituency Development Fund, Local Authority Transfer Fund), tracking and monitoring
implementation of national policies and international legal frameworks.

The diagram below gives a diagrammatic summary of the project

State Curriculum Curriculum for youth out of

Development School; youth engagement
County and National; Broad
Transformation of Agric
Agenda

Youth in school and

Youth out of school
through Active learning (knowledge sharing between)
seek Rights & entitlements

17
 Youth (in and out of school) & women & wider
farmer movements

Rationale for Project:

ActionAid focuses on the poorest and most excluded women, men, youth and children – taking sides with
them, making long term commitments to advance their human rights and transform the world in which they
and their children grow up. ActionAid is committed to deliver on five strategic objectives that will result in
millions of poor people having: access to land, food security, improved public services, more accountable
governments, quality education, resilience to disasters and shocks, freedom from violence and economic
rights.

Working with youth as partners in development is core to our theory of change: we create the opportunities,
develop the capacities and support young women and men to be able to fight for their own rights, but also
the rights of others in their villages, towns, and cities. This proposal will be a flagship programmatic
response for the federation, delivering core elements of Key Change Promise 6 (KCP6), which cuts across
all our strategic objectives in our Global Strategy People’s Action to End Poverty 2012-17 . KCP6 states
that: By 2017, we will have mobilised over five million youth to take sustained action towards building a
poverty-free planet.

This proposed project takes young people seriously; it recognizes and strengthens their skills, energy and
ability to build up structures based on their own agenda and analysis. Excluded young women and men
need training, guidance and role models to support their struggles, and this is the foundation for
empowerment and active citizenship. This project creates a range of spaces for different groups of young
people to meet and discuss issues that matter to them, to connect with others (including farmers groups
and women’s movements) through solidarity networks - to emerge as leaders in their own right.

Furthermore, we believe the approach of capacity building in CRSA of both in school and out of school
youth (through active learning) is central to striving for government buy in regarding non formal learning for
out of school youth. So it is viewed as complementary and necessary, rather than as a tokenistic gesture.

ActionAid is well placed to create solidarity amongst young people and their communities advocating for
structural change in relation to agricultural policies and practices because of our truly grass roots
community based reflection action processes. We place a strong emphasis on creating solidarity, not only
amongst different types of young people (in and out of school, male and female, associated with youth
farmer wings etc.), but also their wider communities; so that their learning is not in isolation.

It will explore the added value that diverse youth can bring towards developing CRSA amongst their peers
and wider communities. And in so doing, it will seek to not only increase young people’s interest in CRSA,
but also address some of the negative stereotyping of youth that pervades.

Activities:

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See attached results framework.

Indicators of Success:
See attached results framework.

Organizational Capacity:
ActionAid International is a unique democratic federation collectively governed by all its members,
supported by an International Secretariat in Johannesburg. ActionAid is committed to finding sustainable
solutions to end poverty and injustice through more than 40 national members and country programmes.
ActionAid’s approach includes participatory capacity-development, solidarity, campaigns and emergency
responses. Gender equality and courage of conviction drive our ambitions to innovate, take risks, and
promote women’s leadership and advance alternatives and lasting solutions.

ActionAid builds on many years of experience in training and mobilizing youth, for example: through our
international youth network Activista; our fellowship programmes (in Myanmar); our work with girls camps
and young female parliaments (in Ghana); our life skills, vocational training and livelihoods work (e.g.
Burundi), our Reflect circles with young men and young women (e.g. in Bangladesh), and our work on
transitions to secondary school for girls (in Nigeria). Our youth network, Activista (http://act.ai/activista)
creates powerful and creative campaigns and empowers and enables young people to actively participate
in the decision-making and political processes that affect their lives.

ActionAid has a rich experience in participatory learning approaches, notably having developed the Reflect
approach to adult, particularly women’s, non-formal education and empowerment in 1993. The Reflect
approach is now used by 500 organizations across 70 countries and has been awarded 5 UN International
Literacy Prizes since 2003. On average 75% of participants in Reflect circles are between 15 and 30 years
old. Some have missed out on education altogether. Essentially these processes are a means towards
enabling critical analysis of local issues systematically: in this instance – understanding what CSRA issues
there are, how to seek solutions and identify and hold to account the key duty bearers. From the Reflect
approach we have evolved a range of other participatory methods tailored for particular purposes, including
Participatory Vulnerability Analysis (PVA), and Societies Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR). We are
now harmonizing all these experiences into a revitalized Reflection-Action process, which builds on the
best of these diverse active learning methods.

ActionAid has worked with youth in the coastal regions of Kenya for many years, supporting a range of
youth organizations. These have evolved to become entry points for community organization around issues
such as land rights, HIV and AIDS education and good governance and are now able to attract resources
directly. A three year programme to build young women’s leadership and entrepreneurship skills is currently
underway in 3 districts in Kenya.

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development: will be a key partner. It is a State Corporation established
in 1957 as the Institute of Education, which in February 2013 was made a national curriculum development
centre. The Institute’s core mandate is to develop curricula, curriculum support materials and to undertake
educational research. KIE’s vision is to become “a centre of excellence in transformative and globally
competitive curricula” and its mission is “to provide quality curricula and curriculum support materials that
are responsive to the needs of society.” The Institute has become the regional leader in the development of
curriculum and curriculum support materials. KIE works towards the attainment of Kenya’s Vision 2030,
Education for All (EFA), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

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Sustainability:
AA has learned that “project islands” will not help to address the structural causes of poverty that affect
millions of citizens across the countries where we work. Mobilizing and organizing youths out of school at
local level this project will provide platform/s for youth to engage at Ward, Sub- County and County levels to
address causes, and therefore offer a sustainable and replicable approach. The fundamental base is local:
this means our work will directly reach out to young women and young men, and this is then connected
upwards to the national level by linking the local groups to wider movements.

Over the course of the three years we would seek (rather ambitiously) that many of the learning’s/findings
from the project are acknowledged by local, regional, or national government; through the adoption of
active learning modules/approaches; increasing access to devolved funds; or changes in agricultural policy.
And in so doing, reducing the need for funding beyond the 3 years.

In addition, all of the LRP sites for this pilot project are already in existence. This means that initial
sensitization processes are already done, and as AA LRP sites last for 10 years – all the sites will still have
local youth group partners at the end of the project to continue promoting engagements as the project t
concludes at the end of 2016.

III. Budget

For the budget breakdown, see the attached spreadsheet.

Total Amount of Project (over 3 years): £1,149, 380.07

Amount Requested from OS: £815,676.09

Grant Period: The grant requested is for the period November 2013 to November 2016.

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