SNV REALMS Project Review Workshop 2022

The Regenerative Agricultural Practices for Improved Livelihoods and Markets (REALMS) project is a 4-year project targeting 10,000 farmers in Kenya and Rwanda, whose goal is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Western Kenya and Western Rwanda by creating conditions for the successful adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. The expected project outcomes include:

1. Adoption of regenerative agricultural practices by smallholder farmers, leading to improved soil and water quality and improved livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

2. Increased investment, business growth, and revenues for local service providers of products and services supporting regenerative agriculture.

3. Improved enabling environment, favorable to market-driven regenerative agriculture.

REALMS has been supporting practices related to (i) regenerating soils; (ii) biodiversity and eco-systems; (iii) optimum use of resources; (iv) using renewable energy; and (v) cycling and designing out waste. The REALMS focus counties in Kenya are: Bungoma, Kakamega, Kericho, Nakuru and Uasin Gishu and the project is working with farmers and enterprises in the Livestock, Horticulture, and Agro-forestry value chains.

Continuous learning and review of progress, taking stock of achievements, and challenges and exploring further innovative approaches for regenerative agriculture is an important focus of REALMS. The focus of this review workshop was, therefore, to reflect on achievements made in the last year, harvest lessons learned and innovations/approaches that can be carried forth and plan for year 2 with a focus on our theory of change. Given ADSW in consultation with the SNV REALMS coordinating team organized a two-day review workshop at Sirikwa Hotel, Eldoret. 

The objectives of the review workshop were; to share the main results of REALMS (outputs and outcomes) to date; to review progress based on outcome one concerning ToC.; Harvest new learnings across the five counties; to fine-tune the project implementation strategy and planning where appropriate concerning learnings; identity key messages/learnings/stories of change to be disseminated externally for publicity and wider learning.

The review workshop was attended by five project officers for ADSW, the Project coordinator ADSW, the Project Monitoring & Evaluation ADSW, the Head of Programs, the Head of Finance, the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, the CEO (ADSW management team), the SNV REALMS Agronomy and Biodiversity Advisor, Outcome two Lead (Patrick) and Finance Team, five FFS facilitators representatives and three master trainer representatives.

This two-day workshop saw a review and discussion of the Year 2 budget that was presented, capturing the main conclusions and priorities moving forward, reporting guidelines review.