Reaping what she sows: One woman's mission to transform rural Kenya
Leonida Odongo from Haki Nawiri Afrika speaks during the interview on July 19, 2024 during the launch of Ardhi Caucus Strategy at Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi, Westlands.
What you need to know:
- Leonida Odongo turned her job loss into an opportunity by founding Haki Nawiri Africa, an organisation addressing gender, climate, and food justice in Kenya's rural communities.
- Through innovative approaches, she's transforming agricultural practices and challenging patriarchal norms to improve food security and empower women.
In the bustling streets of Nairobi, where dreams often collide with harsh realities, Leonida Odongo found herself at a crossroads. The year was 2019, and the once-thriving NGO where she had poured her heart and soul into climate and food justice work had suddenly closed its doors.
As she joined the ranks of the jobless, a question burned in her mind: "Where will I take all this wealth of knowledge and experience?"
Little did Leonida know that her unexpected unemployment would spark a journey of resilience, innovation, and social change. Her story is one of turning adversity into opportunity, and of sowing seeds of empowerment in the fertile soil of Kenya's rural communities.
After months of fruitless job searching and interviews that led nowhere, Leonida's sister planted an idea that would soon blossom into something extraordinary.
"Start your own organisation," she suggested.
Despite the daunting challenges of the NGO sector, Leonida took a leap of faith.
In 2020, Haki Nawiri (Right Thrive) Africa was born, with a mission to tackle gender, climate, and food justice. Leonida's focus zeroed in on the often-overlooked residents of informal settlements and rural areas.
"We help the rural farmers adopt agro-ecological farming systems such as conservation agriculture," explains Leonida, who holds degrees in sociology, political science, and international conflict management from the University of Nairobi.
But Haki Nawiri Africa goes beyond traditional agricultural support. They conduct on-farm soil testing, a crucial step in improving crop yields.
"A healthy soil results in high yields means enough for the family. And in the long term relieves women of the stress of feeding their families. When the husband or children are hungry, who do they ask for food? It's the wife or the mother," Leonida points out.
The organisation's innovative approach extends to addressing socio-cultural barriers through mixed-gender tafakari (reflect) forums.
"We have held these forums in places like Siaya and Machakos, and men think through the traditions, attitudes and perceptions that bar women from advancing. They give solutions and commit to adhere to them as well as support women," she says.
Impact
The impact of these forums has been profound.
"It's very encouraging to hear them share their transformative stories of how their husbands engage them in discussions on improving the quality of soils in their farms, something they didn't do before," Leonida shares.
Her ground-breaking work didn't go unnoticed. In 2021, Innovation for Change-Africa Hub awarded Haki Nawiri Africa a Social Innovation Award. "The award recognised solutions that addressed complex challenges in our communities," Leonida explains proudly.
Looking ahead, Leonida has ambitious plans.
"Patriarchy is a major challenge in addressing food insecurity and adopting climate-smart technologies. It must be tackled to move forward. And we hope to hold the tafakari sessions in all the 47 counties in the country, but that also depends on funding."
From jobless corner to award-winning changemaker, Leonida Odongo's story is a testament to the power of perseverance and the potential for one person's vision to transform communities.
