As a farmer in northern Kenya, I came to understand the importance of dryland restoration. After moving to Kaijaido country in the south, I started an initiative to restore the land, increase food security and reduce poverty, supported by a grant from the East African Community with various activities supported by FAO and Yale University.

The local Maasai people are pastoral. They depend on pasture and browse trees for their livestock, but most land is now so degraded that this has led to hunger and hopelessness. I began by mobilizing the community and training them in the importance of land restoration. The aim was to foster relationships, learn by doing, and share and co-create knowledge on how to effectively and sustainably restore degraded land, in order to increase profitability and landscape and livelihood resilience.