On June 25th 2011 Necofa Kenya in collaboration with the Ogiek community and stakeholders involved came together with the aim of launching the community action plan (CAP). The CAP was as a result of comprehensive, participatory needs assessment of the Ogiek community of Mariashoni location, Molo district. These activities and workshops were facilitated by officers from the Ministry of Agriculture, Necofa, Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and provincial administration.
The process of preparing the CAP involved an in-depth analysis of both development and social issues affecting the communities living within the Mau forest area. Together the facilitators and the community members participated in forums discussing the different issue affecting the community. The members of the community were divided into 4 groups i.e. Elders, Women, Male youths and Female youths. This was to ensure that each group could feel at ease to communicate all their issues without fear and intimidation from other gender and age group. These respective groups were facilitated by the respective genders e.g. Elders forums were facilitated by Men and women’s forum was facilitated by a female facilitator. These PRA forums contributed greatly to the compilation of the CAP, which details all problems in the location and their proposed solutions.
The launching Festival was organized by Ogiek youths who were assisted by the Necofa team in the organization and planning. They prepared delicious traditional dishes accompanied by mursik. The launching festival was started with forums as they were initially conducted during the P.R.A forums these were followed by a meal prepared by the community and after there was an entertainment session where a group of Mariashoni primary school student performed some traditional dances. The youths of Mariashoni also performed some cultural dances. After the dance the audience proceeded to the next session where they planted more than 200 trees in Mariashoni primary school. This is one of the major areas where Necofa has put a lot of effort in reforestation and conservation of the environment especially with the restoration of the Mau forest.
Jane Karanja 