Strengthening the capacity of community facilitators for rangeland restoration

Over the past year, the Restore4More project has been working to establish a community-based restoration scaling model in West Pokot County, Kenya, one of the project’s four engagement landscapes across the Karamoja Cluster. The initiative aims to strengthen locally led restoration and sustainable rangeland management by building networks of community facilitators who can support knowledge sharing, practical training, and restoration activities within their own communities.

As part of this effort, Vi Agroforestry, a partner organization in Restore4More with a long history of working with farmer-led extension and inclusive community-based scaling approaches,  identified and engaged 22 community groups in West Pokot during 2025. Through participatory community meetings, consultations with local grassroots leaders, and joint planning processes with the groups, community facilitators (CFs) were identified and selected based on community trust, active participation, leadership potential, willingness to volunteer, and knowledge of local rangeland management practices. The selected CF:s now serve as focal persons and local change agents within their respective communities. While Vi Agroforestry has previously applied similar knowledge-multiplication approaches in farming systems, Restore4More is now adapting and testing this model in the context of rangelands and agro-pastoral systems. 

To strengthen the capacity of the community facilitators, Restore4More organized a five-day training on rangeland restoration and sustainable management in Chepareria, West Pokot County, from March 23 to 27, 2026. The training brought together 24 community facilitators from West Pokot, alongside three school representatives from 2 schools involved in restoration activities. Field liaisons from the project’s other three engagement landscapes (Lokiriama in Kenya, and Rupa and Matany in Uganda) also participated in the training to strengthen their own knowledge on rangeland restoration and explore how similar community-based scaling approaches could be implemented in their landscapes. 

The training was organized by Restore4More, with support from the Include2Restore project, and facilitated by partners including the University of Nairobi, Vi Agroforestry, and CIFOR-ICRAF. The overall aim was not only to strengthen technical knowledge of rangeland restoration practices and monitoring of interventions, but also to establish a long-term community-led extension and restoration model that can support wider uptake of sustainable rangeland management and restoration.

The training content was developed based on present challenges and priority restoration needs identified from scientific evidence and earlier participatory meetings and planning processes with communities in the West Pokot engagement landscape. This helped ensure that the training responded to locally relevant restoration and management needs.

The program combined classroom sessions, group discussions, and extensive hands-on field demonstrations covering key aspects of sustainable rangeland restoration and management. Topics included soil and water conservation in rangelands, fodder and fodder seed production, tree and woody vegetation management, regenerative kitchen gardening, grazing management, and monitoring of restoration interventions. 

Participants were introduced to a range of restoration techniques aimed at slowing down, capturing, and reducing surface runoff and erosion, improving infiltration and soil moisture retention, supporting vegetation recovery, and strengthening rangeland productivity. Practical sessions covered the establishment of water harvesting structures such as half-moons, zai pits, stone contour bunds, deep trenches, and check dams, as well as gully control measures to reduce runoff and soil loss. 

The fodder production component focused on grass seed collection, curing and storage, reseeding, and pasture establishment using locally adapted grass species, including Maasai love grass (Eragrostis superba), African foxtail (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) and African horsetail (Chloris roxburghiana). Participants also received training in haymaking, manuring practices, and enclosure management to support sustainable pasture regeneration and livestock production. Practical demonstrations included broadcasting grass seeds on the bunds of half-moons, trenches, stone bunds, and zai pits to support pasture recovery, followed by discussions on seed harvesting, curing, storage, and viability testing.

said Dr. Stephen Mureithi from the University of Nairobi, Kenya Country Coordinator for the Restore4More and Include2Restore projects.

Additional sessions focused on tree cover management and restoration of woody vegetation through approaches such as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), tree nursery establishment, and tree planting and management. During the FMNR practical sessions, participants learned how to identify trees and shrubs with coppicing potential and prune excess branches to stimulate regeneration and support the recovery of native woody vegetation while promoting the growth of grasses and other herbaceous plants.

Discussions on rangeland management also emphasized the importance of mobility, landscape-scale grazing systems, seasonal grazing areas, and management of invasive species. The training further introduced regenerative kitchen gardening approaches adapted to dryland conditions, including soil and water conservation practices, crop and vegetable selection, and promotion of plant diversity to support household nutrition, dietary diversity and resilience.

The training not only focused on restoration and sustainable rangeland management practices, but also on the monitoring of restoration interventions. As part of this component, participants received hands-on training in the use of the Regreening App, a mobile tool for assisted citizen science monitoring of restoration interventions developed by CIFOR-ICRAF under the Restore4More project. In particular, the sessions introduced participants to the recently developed rangeland module.

The Regreening App sessions were facilitated by three experienced community facilitators from Makueni County, Kenya, who are involved in restoration monitoring activities under the UK PACT-funded Nature-based Solutions for Forest and Landscape Restoration project and the GCF-funded TWENDE project. These facilitators have been actively involved in monitoring rangeland health in sites that are part of a broader network of LDSF rangeland health monitoring sites across East Africa, which also includes the four Restore4More engagement landscapes. Their participation created opportunities for cross-learning and exchange between community facilitators and restoration practitioners working in different rangeland systems across the region.

said Emily Ouko of Vi Agroforestry Kenya. 

Following the training, the community facilitators are expected to support community-level restoration and sustainable rangeland management activities through local trainings, demonstrations, and community engagement within their respective communities. Through this knowledge-multiplication approach, the facilitators will play a central role in strengthening and scaling locally led restoration efforts and supporting the wider uptake of restoration practices across the landscape.

To support continued monitoring and follow-up of restoration interventions, the facilitators were also equipped with smartphones installed with the Regreening App. This will allow them to document restoration activities, monitor landscape changes, and contribute community-based citizen science data and observations on restoration progress within their communities.