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About SASAL

Our Story

How We Got Started

SASAL is a non-governmental organization working with pastoral communities in Arid and semi-arid lands to build climate resilience. To achieve climate resilience, we have developed several programs on awareness/knowledge creation, mitigation, and adaptation.
The idea for SASAL was born in the year 2015 but became a reality in September 2019. It was initially named “smile of a pastoralist” but then renamed.

Where We Are Now

Our story stems from an exciting point of view from our founder, who is also a meteorologist and from a pastoral community. She couldn’t help but notice the continuous land degradation, recurrent droughts, and loss of livelihood in her home area in Magadi, Kajiado county. Studying meteorology led her to believe that the effects of droughts such as the loss of livelihoods could be evaded by proper preparedness by following weather forecasts issued by the Kenya Meteorological department. However, she realized some of the barriers hindering the farmers from consuming the weather forecasts and using them. That’s when the idea was born of forming an organization that will be like a “spring” not only in Kajiado county but all of the Arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya and help people build climate resilience through creating awareness, adapting to climate change and some mitigation actions. Hence the name Spring of the ASAL’s.

Our Mission

To work with the communities living in the ASAL’s for their improved climate resilience

Our Vision

To be a leading organization in optimizing climate resilience of communities in the ASAL’s of Kenya

Our Strategy

Organizational Goals:

Goal 1: Strengthening community understanding and awareness of climate justice.

Goal 2: Supporting tradition and introduction of resilient, adaptive, and mitigation livelihoods to cushion against climate change effects.

Goal 3: Strengthening community rights through civic education and policy advocacy by training and representing their plight on the local and global stage.

Goal 4: Support the development of sustainable programs to empower and eradicate poverty.

Goal 5: Institutional strengthening in order to address multiple issues affecting the ASAL regions.

Goal 6: Championing gender equality, inclusion, and diversity of marginalized groups such as women, youth, and persons living with disability.

Short-Term Strategy:(0-6months)
  1. Help the communities with great risk of flooding and drought develop adaptive techniques such as building dykes and introducing irrigation as a measure to help grow fodder for livestock and crops to increase food security.
  2. Develop climate mitigation programs around planting trees using seed balls and community planting exercises.
  3. Champion on FGM and early child marriages which have been outlawed by the government by using local vocal groups embedded within these communities.
  4. Creation of civic education spaces and providing content to educate the community while liaising with local leadership in public barazas.
  5. Encouraging education of boys and girls who are often grazing or fetching water and firewood to help in family chores instead of going to school to learn.
Mid-Term Strategy:(6months-3years)
  1. SASAL shall identify local women and youth groups to drive the agenda of empowerment and resilience. Such as the introduction of farming through irrigation for agribusiness activities and sell and production of clean cooking stoves for sustainability.
  2. The issue of women’s inclusion in gender mainstreaming programs will be of priority but careful to create acceptability from the grassroots level.
  3. Introduce extension officers from government-led institutions dealing with livestock and crop diseases and pests to create and build resilience.
  4. Digging wells to create troughs and water points for both man and livestock
Long-term Strategy:(3years-5years)

The eventual output of SASAL’s interventions shall be to:

  1. Ensure policy change addresses the dire needs of the ASAL region in regard to increased quotas of resource allocation from the devolved government and National government through the County and Ministerial allocation of funds.
  2. Change the negative cultural barriers to inclusion, diversity, and equality for the ASAL community living with disability, women, and youth.
  3. Enable the community to understand the effects of climate change and how to mitigate and adapt using locally led initiatives.
  4. Empower locally-led community-based organizations to advance their own narratives in civic education, climate change, equality, inclusion, diversity, and economic empowerment.
  5. Increase the income-generating activities and enhance non-reliance on livestock as the main source of livelihood.

Download the SASAL 5 Year Strategic Plan Report

SASAL Ascribes to the 17 global SDGs.

Download

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