Agribusiness Market Ecosystems Alliance (AMEA)
This is a collaboration of agencies working towards the professionalisation of farmer organisations. The alliance aims to promote global standardisation through coordinated business service delivery, utilising peer-reviewed assessment tools and a curriculum provided by certified trainers, coaches, and mentors.
It also strives to facilitate access to affordable finance and encourages the adoption of agricultural technology. Cordaid is the host and network facilitator of the AMEA Kenya local network, comprising 11 organisations.
Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility
The Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility (RK-FINFA) is funded by the government of Kenya and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The project’s goal is to reduce poverty, enhance climate change resilience and improve livelihoods in rural areas by increasing rural financial inclusion and green investments by agriculture value chain stakeholders. It is a six-year project targeting 14 counties and 190,000 rural households across Kenya, focusing on financing and capacity building, with a particular emphasis on youth and women.
Cordaid offers technical support to selected microfinance institutions and business development services to smallholder farmers and their organisations in 7 counties in western Kenya, namely Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Nandi, Siaya and Kisii counties. These services will contribute to increased rural investments, employment, higher incomes, and greater gender equality in access to financial opportunities.
Shared Futures
Shared Futures is an inclusive programme for just and peaceful coexistence. The programme aims to empower youth in Mombasa, Kwale, and Tana River counties to take up a leading role in addressing violent extremism. It is implemented by a consortium of five organisations, with Cordaid as the lead.
The consortium, which includes Samba Sports, Jamii Action Centre, Africa Youth Trust, and Anglican Development Services Pwani, collaborates with government representatives, policymakers, civil society organisations, and the community. Collectively, they work towards developing policies that promote interfaith cooperation. The project is a two-and-a-half-year initiative funded by Kerk in Actie.
Green Finance for Youth Employment
The Green Financing for Youth Employment (GFYE) Project seeks to ensure rural young women and men achieve increased and resilient incomes through green livelihoods. It aims to strengthen Kenya’s green finance ecosystem by developing scalable youth-focused investment models for adoption by financial institutions and government, while enabling rural youth and enterprises to access financing and operate sustainable, employment-generating investments.
GFYE will expand access to green, loan-based financing for 4,000 youth and 250 youth-led small and medium enterprises in agriculture across seven counties, ultimately benefiting an estimated 5,000 youth as employees, producers, and micro-entrepreneurs.
The project focuses on identifying scalable green business models, designing youth-friendly financial products, and building the capacity of financial institutions and entrepreneurs to overcome financing barriers. By lowering lending risks and incentivising repayment, it will unlock financing for youth-led green enterprises.
The project targets low-income rural youth aged 18–35, including vulnerable groups, to create decent and sustainable opportunities in both on-farm and off-farm activities across the food system. At least 50% of participants will be young women, while youth with disabilities will also be supported through tailored assistance informed by a mapping of scalable business models.
Funded by IFAD as a supplementary initiative to the RK-FINFA project, GFYE is implemented in the 7 RK-FINFA target Counties in collaboration with the Government of Kenya, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and Financial Sector Deepening Kenya.
Strengthening Agricultural Resilience through Learning and Innovation (closed in 2023)
This project, implemented by Cordaid in Kenya and Rwanda, targeted the maize-growing areas of Kakamega County and Kayonza District. The project was funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and supported rural productivity, market access, increased income, and food security, promoting South-South learning.
WHERE WE WORK IN KENYA
(B)eat the Locust: Isiolo, Laikipia, Samburu, Marsabit Counties
Shared Futures Phase 2: Mombasa, Kwale and Tana River Counties
Shared Futures Phase 3: Mombasa and Kwale Counties
Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility: Kisii, Nandi, Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia, Trans Nzoia and Siaya Counties
PARTNERS AND DONORS
Current donors: Nationale Postcode Loterij, the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Alliances: ACT Alliance, Caritas Internationalis, Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance.
Previous donors include the European Commission – EuropeAid, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), South-South Cooperation and the Government of Kenya.
Partners: Indigenous Movement for Peace and Conflict Transformation (IMPACT), International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Jamii Action Centre, Samba Sports Youth Agenda, Anglican Development Services Pwani, Africa Youth Trust, Anglican Development Services Western, Kerk in Actie.
CONTACT
Address
Capital West, 6th Floor
Lantana Road
Westlands
Nairobi
Kenya
Phone
+254 (0) 722 203 095
The Kenya office is part of our East and South Africa Cluster.
Director of the East and South Africa Cluster
Heleen van der Beek
Email: [email protected]
Country Manager
Nelly Shonko
Email: [email protected]
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