People4Nature Green Climate Fund

The process of registering the umbrella organization for all Kaya groups in Kwale and Kilifi Counties started right after the Kaya stakeholders meeting on 4th September 2023. The meeting resolved to register the Kaya Association as an umbrella organization of all the 9 tribal Kaya sacred villages and associated Kayas, and elected a committee to spearhead the process.

The first step involed the development of a constitution. The constitution is a key community based organization registration requirement. With technical support from Africa Nature Organization and the National Museums of Kenya, the custodian of all traditional sacred sites in Kenya, the Kaya stakeholders were guided in the development of the constitution through a series of meetings at Kaloleni and Kizurini trading centres. The meetings were held in September 2023 and finally the Kaya Association committee adopted it.

The commiitee had the option of registering the umbrella orgnaization as community based organization at the nearest Culture and Social Services offices at Kizurini or register it as an association at the Registrar of Societies offices within the Attoney General's office in Nairobi. After a series of challenges in registering the organization with the office of Culture and Social Services at Kisurini, the committee opted to register the organization with the Registrar of Societies. Unlike the registration process at the offices of Culture and Social Services at Kizurini that had taken over two months without success, the online regostration process at the Registrar of Societies was easy, cost effective and less time consuming. It took a day to file and submit the application on 25th October 2023. It takes upto three months for the Registrar of Societies to review and approve an application.

In the meantime, the committee resolved to continue fundraising, undertake meetings with various Kaya villages, monitor the status of the Kaya sacred forest and establish partnerships with like minded organizations and government departments.

Your continued contrinution to this cause is highly apperciated.

Links:

• Kaya Association Photo Album

Kaya Elders Resolve – United Against Degradation of Kaya Forests

Previous meetings with Kaya Elders of Kaya Giriama Sacred Forest had identified some of the most pressing issues affecting the management of the sacred forests. Encroachment leading to loss of important sacred sites, lack of proper demarcation of the forest, loss of status of the Kaya Elders among community members, increase in poaching of forest products for commercial charcoal burning, firewood, and leadership wrangles were some of the challenges identified. The Kaya Giriama Elders had noted that the challenges were being faced by all the nine (tribal) main Mijikenda sacred forests and other Mijikenda sacred sites. They had requested to have a meeting of all the nine Mijikenda sub-tribal Elders (Kaya Elders) to discuss a common strategy to deal with the challenges.

The Africa Nature Organization agreed to convene a meeting for representatives of the nine main sacred forest elders, that was held on 4^th September 2023 at Oasis Hotel, Mariakani. The meeting was attended by 20 participants including 14 representatives of 9 Kaya sacred forests in Kwale and Kilifi County, 2 women leaders representing the interests of women, one youth representative, and 3 representatives of civil society organizations working with communities around the Kaya sacred forests.

 At the end of the day, the elders confirmed that they faced similar challenges and required a common voice in addressing these challenges. They acknowledged that there was a committee of all the Kaya Elders but the challenges they were facing required a broader and more inclusive committee or umbrella organization to deal with the challenges. They proposed the formation of a Kaya Community Based Organization (CBO) with membership drawn from all the Kaya Elders groups, women-led community-based organizations, youth-led groups and other civil society organizations (including NGOs) working to protect and conserve the Kaya sacred forests.

The Kaya CBO was mandated to pursue the following objectives: -

1. To build the organisational capacity of Kaya CBO to undertake its mandate effectively and efficiently.
2. Conservation and protection of Kaya Forest blocks
3. Promote the culture and traditions that enhance the conservation and protection of Kaya Sacred Forests.
4. To support the research and documentation of cultural and traditional best practises that enhance the conservation of Kaya sacred forests and innovations that improve sustainable livelihoods of communities living adjacent these forests.
5. Promotion of sustainable community livelihoods.

The meeting was concluded by electing an interim committee of 13 members including representatives of the Kaya Elders, 1 woman, 1 youth and 1 representative of other civil society organizations working with the Kaya Elders and communities living adjacent the Kaya sacred forests. The committee was tasked to finalize the registration of the Kaya CBO.

Links:

• Photo Album - The Kaya Community