Ward Climate Change Councils undergo training

Kajiado,

Thursday, October 26, 2023

KNA by Seline Nyangere and Sammy Rayiani

At least 10 Ward Climate Change Councils in Kajiado County have received training on how to pitch, develop, write project proposals, and prepare programs on climate change resilience.

The trainees are then expected to sensitize and educate residents on their proposed projects. 

The two-day training organized by the Kajiado County Government under the Ministry of Water Services and Environment in partnership with Kenya Climate Change Working Group (KCCWG) and Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), took the Ward Councils through grievance redress mechanism, project cycle, and proposal development.

ALIN’s programme manager Mr. Bob Aston pointed out that the training was important because the wards would soon undertake different climate change resilience projects and receive funding from the county government through the Financing Locally led Climate Action program (FLOCA).

“We expect that by the end of the training, the wards will be able to write their project proposals that will enable them to receive the FLOCA funding,” said Aston.

He also revealed that every ward’s climate change council comprises of 7 people who represent communities from the ward level in consideration of gender and people with disability.

“Those representing ward climate change council in each ward in terms of gender, a third are women, there are also persons with disability, the youths and the elderly. The county ensured the two-third gender rule is key and everyone is represented,” revealed Mr Aston.

To create awareness of the proposed projects and reach the residents, the trainers took the ward's communication representatives on how to create active social media platforms such as Twitter, and Facebook, a functional email address, and public participation.

“The most important thing we did was; we had a session on communication, how the representatives should inform the community through public participation for example in churches on climate change mitigation and adaptation, how they can document the projects they do within the ward level. We also trained them on technologies and channels they can use to communicate with their people,” added Aston.

Kaputei North ward manager Mr. Loafters Kazungu said that as a ward, they proposed borehole solarisation as a project because it is environmentally friendly and at the same time, it would save them electricity costs and solve their thirst for water.

“One of the main problems in Kaputei North, especially within Isinya town, is that the population is high and we experience water shortage. We have a borehole but because of the electricity cost, it is not functioning. Also, we cannot use a generator because of its hazardous nature to the environment and fuel cost and so we proposed borehole solarisation,” said Kazungu. 

Miss Irene Koki from Kitengela ward said that they initially had three proposals which were beef farming, borehole solarisation and tree planting but they had to settle on one project which is borehole solarisation.

“We felt that with borehole solarisation, we could venture into many projects because when residents benefit from borehole water, they can practice farming. We ask the county government to see that the project is successful so that the people from Oseki can benefit from it,” said Miss Koki.

Oloosirkon ward also proposed for borehole solarisation where their communication representative Miss Pilaso Mokote revealed that overtime, they have been depending on generators but they want to shift to renewable energy and cut on the cost of fuel.

The ten wards are expected to submit their proposals to the County Climate Change Planning Council for review within one week.

Courtesy; KNA