Project summary

Seeds That Multiply: A Community-Led Pilot Program for Improving Widows Livelihoods Through Collective Farming in Rural Kenya

Overview

Every year, thousands of widows in rural Kenya miss opportunities to improve their livelihoods—not because they lack the ability to farm, but because they lack access to productive assets such as land, quality seed, and start-up capital.

This project seeks to change that.

Samia Widows AiD & Protection Center (SWAPC) is requesting USD $9,193 to support 189 widows from nine self-help groups in Samia Sub-County, Busia County, Kenya, to establish collective farms producing Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts during the current planting season.

These two crops were selected because they are well suited to the local climate, mature within approximately three months, require relatively modest inputs, and have strong market demand. The project combines productive asset investment with training, collective action and reinvestment to create a model that can continue beyond the initial grant.

Rather than providing short-term financial assistance, the project enables widows to generate income from productive agricultural enterprises while building the knowledge, confidence and group capacity needed for sustained economic participation.

The Problem

Many widows in rural western Kenya depend on small-scale agriculture for survival, yet they often cultivate very small plots with limited access to quality inputs, finance and organized markets.

SWAPC has over 39 widow self-help groups but low household incomes restrict members' ability to invest in farming or expand their savings. As a result, many households remain trapped in a cycle of low productivity, limited income and financial insecurity.

The current planting season provides a narrow window of opportunity. Without timely funding, participating groups may miss the season and lose several months before the next opportunity to cultivate crops capable of generating meaningful income.

Why The Intervention?

The proposed intervention focuses on collective farming, allowing widows to pool resources, share labor, reduce production costs and market their harvest collectively.

Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts were selected because they:

• Are well adapted to the climate of western Kenya.

• Mature within approximately 90–120 days.

• Improve soil fertility through nitrogen fixation.

• Are nutritious and contribute to household food security.

• Have reliable local and regional market demand.

• Can well be stored after harvest, allowing farmers to sell when prices are favorable.

• Offer opportunities for value addition, including flour, roasted nuts and peanut butter.

Collective production also creates commercially meaningful harvest volumes that improve bargaining power with buyers.

Cost-Effectiveness

The investment has potential to benefit over 189 households.

Investment of USD $9,193 will directly support:

• 189 widows,

• Nine organized farming groups,

• Hundreds of dependent family members and

• Pathway for expansion to other SWAPC groups.

The average investment is approximately:

• USD $49 per widow

• USD $1,021 per participating group.

Since the intervention builds productive capacity rather than providing recurring assistance, the benefits are expected to extend beyond a single harvest including support to additional groups.

Scalability

A central feature of the project is its multiplication strategy.

Following the initial harvest, each of the nine participating groups will mentor and support three additional widow groups, using achieved experience with a portion of reinvested profits.

This community-led expansion could increase participation from 9 widows self-help groups to 36 widows self-help groups. Effectively contributing to reaching approximately 756 widows without requiring equivalent increases in donor funding.

Successful implementation of the model will automatically contribute to adoption by other community organization working with vulnerable women in rural Kenya.

Learning and Evaluation

The project is designed to improve livelihoods and generate evidence as SWAPC will closely monitor:

• Land cultivated.

• Harvested volumes.

• Changes in group savings.

• Number of widows participating.

• Crop establishment and survival.

• Gross and net revenue from sales.

• Household food security indicators.

• Number of additional groups adopting the model.

The data will help assess how farming of Bambara and Groundnuts represents a cost-effective approach to strengthening widows' economic resilience within rural communities.

Why Fund This Project?

The proposal offers an opportunity to support a time-sensitive, practical and measurable pilot that addresses women's economic empowerment through productive investment rather than recurring aid.

The grant of USD $9,193 will enable 189 widows to establish collective farms during the current planting season, generate income within one harvest cycle, strengthen their group savings and create a self-reinforcing model designed to expand across all SWAPC widows self-help groups.

Beyond the immediate harvest, the project aims to generate evidence on a community-led approach that combines climate-resilient agriculture, collective action and financial inclusion. The pilot is designed to demonstrate and provide a credible foundation for larger-scale investments supporting widows and other vulnerable women in rural Kenya for similar settings and implementation across Sub-Saharan Africa.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Project Goal

The primary goal of this project is to improve the economic resilience and financial independence of vulnerable widows in Samia Sub-County, Kenya, by enabling them to generate sustainable income through collective farming of Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts during the current planting season.

Rather than providing one-time financial assistance, the project invests in productive agricultural enterprises that can generate income within approximately three months while strengthening community ownership, savings, and long-term self-reliance.

Specific Objectives

This project aims to:

• Enable 189 widows from nine (9) organized self-help groups to establish collective farms producing Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts.

• Increase household income through the production and collective marketing of high-value, climate-resilient crops.

• Strengthen savings and financial resilience within participating widow groups.

• Improve household food security and nutrition through increased production of protein-rich legumes.

• Develop nine demonstration farms that will serve as practical learning centers for other widow groups.

• Generate evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of collective farming as a model for women's economic empowerment.

• Create a self-sustaining expansion model by supporting each participating group to mentor and assist three additional widow groups, enabling the project to grow from 9 groups to all 36 SWAPC groups.

How We Will Achieve These Goals

The project will be implemented over one farming season (approximately three months) through the following activities:

1. Land Leasing: Secure suitable farmland for each of the nine participating widow groups.

2. Training: Provide practical training in climate-smart agriculture, group enterprise management, financial record-keeping, pest management, post-harvest handling, and collective marketing.

3. Agricultural Inputs: Supply certified Bambara Nut and Groundnut seeds, along with essential farm inputs and technical support to ensure successful crop establishment and management.

4. Collective Farming: Widows will work together to prepare land, plant, maintain, and harvest crops, reducing production costs while increasing efficiency and strengthening peer learning.

5. Harvesting and Marketing: SWAPC will coordinate collective harvesting, post-harvest handling, aggregation, and market linkages to help groups obtain better prices through bulk sales.

6. Savings and Reinvestment: Participating groups will allocate a portion of their profits to strengthen their savings and finance future farming activities. They will also use their experience and part of the proceeds to mentor and support three additional widow groups each.

7. Monitoring and Learning: SWAPC will collect data on participation, crop yields, income, savings, food security, and reinvestment to evaluate project outcomes and document lessons that can inform future scaling.

Summary

Expected Outcomes

Within one farming season (approximately three months), the project is expected to achieve:

• Nine functioning collective demonstration farms.

• 189 widows trained in improved agricultural practices.

• Increased production of high-value legumes.

• Increased household income from crop sales.

• Higher savings within participating self-help groups.

• Improved household food security and nutrition.

• Strengthened organizational capacity within SWAPC.

The project will also generate practical implementation data on costs, production, income and lessons learned for scaling.

How will this funding be used?

Grant Purpose:

The requested grant of USD $9,193 will be used to finance:

• Leasing farmland for nine widow groups.

• Purchase of certified Bambara nut and Groundnut seed.

• Land preparation.

• Agricultural inputs.

• Climate-smart farming training.

• Technical support throughout the growing season.

• Harvesting and post-harvest handling.

• Marketing and transportation.

• Monitoring, documentation and project coordination.

Each participating group will receive approximately USD $1,021 in direct project support.

The Budget:

                                             SWAPC Collective Farming

                                                 Bambara and Groundnuts

                                                           Budget -  August 2026

Budget Item = Amount (USD) => Purpose

1 - Land Leasing = 2,200 => Lease suitable farmland for nine widow groups for one farming season including legal documentation.

2 - Certified Bambara Nut & Groundnut Seeds = 940 => Purchase of high-quality certified seed to improve crop establishment, yields and resilience.

3 - Land Preparation = 1,250 => For land ploughing, harrowing and field preparation before planting.

4 - Agricultural Inputs = 950 => Procure fertilizers, pest and disease management products and other essential farm inputs as directed by Agricultural Officer

5 - Groups Training & Demonstration = 1,150 => Deliver practical training on climate-smart agriculture, collective farming, Agri-busines financial management, post-harvest handling and marketing.

6 - Harvesting & Post-Harvest Handling = 790 => Support harvesting, drying, cleaning, sorting, storage and packaging to minimize post-harvest losses and maintain crop quality.

7 - Marketing & Transportation = 625 => Aggregate produce and transport to buyers. Helping groups access larger markets and negotiate better prices.

8 - Monitoring, Evaluation  & Group Coordination = 850 => Provide ongoing field supervision, technical advice and monitoring for documenting implementation, crop performance and project delivery.

9 - Contingency (5% of Subtotal) = 438 => Support coordination, financial accountability, communication and project reporting.

Total Requested = 9,193 =>  Total amount requested

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Project Leadership and Implementation Team

The project will be implemented by Samia Widows AiD & Protection Center (SWAPC) through a multidisciplinary team that combines extensive experience in humanitarian programming, community leadership, climate-smart agriculture and grassroots mobilization.

Francisca Oguba

Chairperson, Samia Widows AiD & Protection Center (SWAPC) and WAPC (Consortium) Busia County

Mrs. Oguba brings over 25 years of experience in education, community development and grassroots leadership, currently serving as Chairperson of widow self-help groups under WAPC (Widows AiD & Protection Center) Consortium in Busia County.

She has community expertise in;

·         Direct leadership of widow groups across multiple wards with

·         Deep experience in:

o    Group formation and governance

o    Conflict resolution and psychosocial support

o    Gender-based vulnerability and inclusion

Francisca Oguba provides community leadership and serves as the principal representative of SWAPC's network of widow self-help groups. She will lead beneficiary group mobilization, coordinate participation across the nine selected widow groups, promote accountability and community ownership ensuring that implementation reflects the priorities and needs of widows.

She will also facilitate peer learning and support the expansion of the collective farming model to additional widow groups following the first successful harvest.

James Nakhulo

Climate-Smart Agriculture Trainer and Technical Advisor

James, will provide technical leadership on climate-smart agriculture and sustainable crop production. He has more than 10 years of experience designing and delivering farmer training programmes focused on climate-smart agriculture, resilient livelihoods, and sustainable land management.

He previously served as Project Manager with VSF Germany in North Horr, Marsabit County, where he led resilience and livelihoods programmes supporting pastoral and farming communities in Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands.

James holds a Bachelor's Degree in Disaster Management and brings expertise in climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, sustainable agriculture, and participatory farmer training.

He will:

• Deliver climate-smart agriculture training.

• Guide land preparation and crop establishment.

• Train farmers on integrated pest and disease management.

• Supervise crop management throughout the growing season.

• Train groups on post-harvest handling, storage, and quality management.

• Mentor community lead farmers who will later train additional SWAPC groups.

Michael Agundah, Gerry

Project Operation, Communication & Fundraising Lead

Michael, provides overall project leadership and strategic oversight. He has over 15 years of professional experience in humanitarian and international development programming, with expertise in grants management, donor compliance, financial accountability, communications, and partnership development. His professional experience includes work with International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Mercy Corps Kenya Programme, Save the Children UK, EGPAF, BGRRF and Solidarity Islamic France. He will provide overall project leadership, donor reporting, communication, financial & strategic oversight, monitoring, monitoring and coordination.

Agricultural Extension Support – Busia County Government

The project will also benefit from the technical support of an Agricultural Officer from the Busia County Department of Agriculture, who has committed to working closely with SWAPC throughout project implementation.

With over 15 years of experience in agricultural extension services at both county and regional levels, the officer will strengthen the technical quality of the project by providing government extension support and practical guidance to participating widow groups.

The Agricultural Officer will support:

• Farmer training on recommended agronomic practices for Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts.

• Soil preparation and crop establishment.

• Crop husbandry, pest and disease management.

• Climate-smart agriculture and sustainable land management.

• Field monitoring and technical backstopping.

• Harvesting, post-harvest handling, and storage.

• Knowledge transfer to ensure participating groups become demonstration and learning centres for the remaining SWAPC widow groups.

The involvement of the County Agricultural Department provides an additional layer of technical oversight, strengthens institutional collaboration and increases the likelihood that the farming model will remain sustainable beyond the initial grant period.

Community Leadership

Project implementation will also be supported by:

• Nine (9) elected widow group leaders, Chairpersons of respective groups, each coordinating activities within their respective groups.

• Group volunteers and lead farmers who will assist with agribusiness training, record-keeping, peer learning and monitoring.

• Local market actors and agricultural stakeholders who will support produce aggregation and market linkages.
  

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

As a seasonal agricultural pilot project, the project involves risks that could affect yields or financial returns. The main risks and incorporated mitigation measures into the project design include;

1. Unfavorable Weather Conditions

The greatest risk is below-average rainfall or prolonged dry spells during the growing season, which could reduce crop yields and lower household incomes.

Mitigation: Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts were selected because they are among most drought-tolerant legumes suitable for western Kenya. Planting will take place at the beginning of the rainy season whereas participants will receive climate-smart agriculture training and ongoing technical support from both experienced agriculture trainer and the Busia County Department of Agriculture.

2. Pest and Disease Outbreaks

Pests and crop diseases could reduce and/ affect productivity if they are not identified and managed early.

Mitigation: Farmers will be trained in integrated pest and disease management. Whereas appointed project team will conduct regular field monitoring to identify and address emerging challenges promptly.

3. Market Price Fluctuations

Prices for Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts may decline at harvest if many farmers sell at the same time.

Mitigation: SWAPC officials will coordinate collective marketing, aggregate produce to improve bargaining power and encourage appropriate storage so groups can sell when market conditions are most favorable.

4. Group Participation and Coordination

Collective farming depends on active participation and effective group management. Differences in commitment or unforeseen personal circumstances are likely to affect implementation.

Mitigation: Participating widows are already organized into established self-help groups with elected leadership, regular meetings and experience in managing shared resources through community table banking and other group activities. The project builds on these existing governance structures rather than creating new ones.

• What if the Project Does Not Achieve Its Expected Financial Returns?

If crop yields or market prices are lower than anticipated, participating widows may earn less income than projected during the first farming season and/ forecast.

However, the project would still produce lasting benefits for widows including:

• Improved knowledge of climate-smart agriculture.

• Practical experience in collective farming and enterprise management.

• Stronger leadership and coordination among widow groups.

• Demonstration farms that can inform future farming seasons.

• Better relationships with county agricultural extension services.

• Evidence on implementation costs, crop performance, and market dynamics that can improve future livelihood programmes.

Therefore; knowledge, skills and organizational capacity developed through the project would remain valuable even if financial returns were below expectations.

• Why We Believe the Risk Is Worth Taking

The project builds on an existing network of over nine (9) organized widow self-help groups that already work together through community table banking and mutual support. While their savings are modest and primarily used for household needs, they demonstrate established trust, financial discipline and collective decision-making very important foundations for a successful group enterprise.

The project is designed to increase earning capacity rather than replace existing savings. By combining productive investment with technical training and strong community ownership, we believe the likelihood of generating meaningful economic benefits is high.

As this is SWAPC's first externally funded collective farming pilot, we are committed to documenting both successes and challenges and sharing lessons transparently. Regardless of the outcome, the project will generate valuable evidence to guide future investments in widows' economic empowerment and determine whether this model should be scaled across other SWAPC widows self-help groups.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

SWAPC has not raised any institutional grant funding or received external project funding during the past 12 months.

Our member widow self-help groups operate community table banking (Village Savings and Loan Associations), where members make regular small savings contributions. These savings are owned and managed by the members and are primarily used for household needs, school fees, medical expenses and small income-generating activities. They are not organizational fundraising income and are not sufficient to finance a collective farming initiative of this scale.

While developing our livelihoods programme, an individual supporter from the Effective Altruism community offered a USD 200 matching contribution in response to an earlier EA Forum appeal for a collective vegetable farming initiative. However, the matching contribution was conditional, has not been received, and is therefore not included as funds raised for this project.

Although our external fundraising history is limited, SWAPC has invested substantial time and voluntary effort in organizing 36 widow self-help groups, establishing governance structures, developing detailed implementation plans, building partnerships with experienced technical advisors, and engaging the Busia County Department of Agriculture to support implementation.

This funding request represents an opportunity to launch SWAPC's first externally funded collective farming pilot, generating measurable evidence on whether community-led cultivation of Bambara Nuts and Groundnuts can increase widows' incomes and provide a scalable model for economic empowerment.