Kiara, J.K.

This article presents the very interesting history of a government agency which has adopted participatory procedures to mobilise communities for resource conservation. It starts with a brief history of soil and water conservation (SWC) in Kenya. The inability of conventional approaches led to the adoption of the Catchment Approach by the Soil and Water Conservation Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture. In this approach, conservation efforts are concentrated in a specified catchment for a limited period of time.

A Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture team used PRA to assess the impact of its Catchment Approach in six catchments, focusing on community level changes. This impact analysis linked differences in the implementation process with differences in results. It was clear that increased levels of community mobilization and involvement led to greater, quicker and replicating changes.