Food and Agriculture Organization under the European Union funded Land Programme recently conducted a workshop that aimed at involving women, youth and people living with disabilities in land governance in the county. The land programme cuts across 8 counties in Kenya which inlude Tana River, Turkana, Samburu, Marsabit, Baringo, Nandi, West Pokot and Laikipia Counties
The two days event saw the mentioned groups from the four sub counties i.e. West Pokot, Central Pokot, South Pokot and North Pokot attend it.
The program was officially opened by Hon. Catherine Mukenyang who emphasized the need to have knowledge on land policies and frameworks used in the county. “Many people in our community especially our county are faced with challenges when land is involved. As the legislative body of the government we are aware and are working on passing bills that protect the land rights of women, youth and people living with disabilities” she said.
The main objective of the forum was to determine the place of women, youth and people living with disabilities in land governance, define and address community experiences, identify challenges faced on land ownership and access, determine gender, and age variation in land allocation in the county and deliberate on the way forward.
To emphasize the theme of the workshop Ms. Husna Mbarak- FAO Land Programme Manager stressed the importance of the various group to know their rights. “Women, youth and PWDs are unfairly robbed their rights especially land; this is attributed to our culture and traditions. This barrier can only be broken if we create awareness and instil land knowledge in our people all over our country. I am very glad that West Pokot county is among the first counties to have this programme implemented because it starts with us,” she noted.
The event was graced by West Pokot County Assembly Lands Committee Chair Hon. Johnstone Lokato, women MCAs, FAO’s Land Technical Officers from West Pokot and Nandi counties respectively.
