Restoring For More: Voices of Change Across the Karamoja Cluster

Restore4More and Include2Restore work across four engagement landscapes in the Karamoja cross-border area between Kenya and Uganda to co-develop, test, and scale sustainable restoration approaches together with local communities. Through community groups, restoration initiatives, collaborative learning activities, and trainings, community members are innovating and adapting restoration practices and exploring ways to improve both ecosystem health and livelihoods. Include2Restore is layered on Restore4More and is exploring how rangeland restoration can become sustainable ecologically, economically, and in terms of social and gender inclusion. The stories below provide a snapshot of early positive changes that the community observes across the projects’ landscapes.

Kitchen Gardens for Improved Food and Nutrition Security

For many households in Lokiriama (Turkana county, Kenya), recurrent droughts, declining pasture resources, and land degradation have made it increasingly difficult to secure food and sustain livelihoods. Among those facing these challenges was Asinyen Asubuin, a pastoralist woman who struggled to provide sufficient food for her family after drought-related livestock losses and declining harvests.

Through one of the trainings provided by Restore4More and Include2Restore, Asinyen learned practical techniques for regenerative kitchen gardening, including soil and water conservation, composting, water harvesting, and cultivation of drought-tolerant crops. Drawing on this knowledge, she established a kitchen garden adapted to dryland conditions and began growing a diversity of vegetables, including simsim, cowpea, okra and amaranth. Today, the garden provides fresh vegetables for her household, helping to improve food security and nutrition while reducing vulnerability to drought. She preserves seeds for planting in the next season and surplus produce is shared with neighbours. The knowledge gained through the trainings is helping to inspire similar practices within the community.

 says Asinyen Asubuin, Lokiriama, Turkana County, Kenya

 Youth-led Fodder Production Creates New Livelihood Opportunities

In Lokiriama, Turkana County, Kenya, restoration is also creating new economic opportunities for young people. The Range Rise Youth Group restored six acres of degraded land through grass reseeding and soil and water conservation measures. The restored area now produces hay that can be used or sold during the dry season, when feed shortages are common. The initiative has already generated income through hay sales while helping local livestock keepers maintain their animals during one of the driest seasons in recent memory. Building on this success, the group has also launched a goat-fattening initiative using fodder produced from the restored land, targeting the local livestock market. The experience is helping demonstrate that restoration can generate both environmental and economic benefits.

says Akoel Nayukum, Chair of the Range Rise Youth Group, Lokiriama, Turkana County, Kenya.

From Fodder Production to Livestock Fattening

In Rupa, Moroto District, Uganda, community members are working together with researchers through the Livestock Café to explore new approaches for improving livestock production and rangeland management. Livestock Cafés serve as collaborative knowledge co-generation and co-learning hubs where pastoralists, researchers, and development partners jointly test and evaluate restoration and livestock management practices.

One recent milestone was the launch of a livestock fattening experiment designed to assess how locally produced fodder can improve livestock productivity and how communities can increase the market value of livestock through improved finishing. The initiative builds on several years of collaboration in fodder production, including the cultivation of lablab (Lablab purpureus), a leguminous fodder crop that provides high-quality feed during the dry season. Community members have actively participated in the process, contributing animals in the supplementation trials and sharing their knowledge and experiences. The experiment represents the next step in a longer process of co-learning and innovation, helping communities and researchers better understand how restoration interventions can support livestock production and pastoral livelihoods.

says Mzee Lotiya, Rupa, Moroto District, Uganda

Diversifying Livelihoods through Crop Production

In Napak District, Uganda, training on crop production and kitchen gardening is helping some households diversify their livelihoods and generate additional income. One example is John Kodet, who participated in project-supported training on crop production and received Dolichos lablab seeds through a local farmer group. Drawing on the knowledge acquired through the training, he planted the lablab on approximately two acres of land. The harvest exceeded expectations, producing around 250 kilograms in a single season. Income from the sale of the crop enabled him to purchase an additional cow, contributing to both household income and livestock assets.

– Many farmers here need to know how to grow profitable crops that earn them money because the majority of farmers in my sub-county are market-oriented, says Kodet John, Napak District, Uganda

His experience illustrates how improved land management practices and diversified production systems can create new economic opportunities while strengthening household resilience in dryland areas.

Restoring Degraded Land through FMNR and Soil and Water Conservation

In West Pokot County, Kenya, Jennifer Rotino, a community facilitator from the Ptokom Self-Help Group, is demonstrating how restoration practices can transform degraded land. After participating in the project trainings on Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), soil and water conservation, pasture establishment, and kitchen gardening, she decided to apply the knowledge on a one-acre plot that was degraded and sparsely vegetated.

Jennifer began selectively managing naturally regenerating trees and shrubs, protecting them from livestock and combining FMNR with soil and water conservation measures such as half-moons and the application of farmyard manure. Over time, vegetation cover increased and grass production improved across the site. As a result, she was able to harvest 17 large bales of hay from the one-acre plot, providing valuable fodder for her livestock during the dry season while also creating opportunities to generate additional income through hay sales.

Her experience illustrates how relatively simple restoration practices can improve land productivity while supporting household livelihoods through restoration-based financial benefit. Jennifer's efforts have also inspired other members of her community to explore FMNR and related restoration practices on their land.