The Taita Taveta County Government is expanding its grassroots economic empowerment program under the flagship Wezesha Jamii project. The initiative is designed to combat rural poverty by equipping local communities with self-sustaining, income-generating skills, with a primary focus on communal goat farming.
Speaking during a routine monitoring and evaluation visit by county administrators, Petro Ndungo Kimatu, the chairperson of the Makini Kitoghoto Self-Help Group in Taveta Sub-County, lauded the project for its rare inclusivity. He noted that unlike many community-based organizations that sideline the elderly, their group actively integrates senior citizens, leveraging their wisdom and leadership to drive the group’s long-term success.
According to Mr. Kimatu, the self-help group has devised a structured distribution plan to ensure every member benefits. By the end of this year, the group plans to gift one goat to every elderly member for individual rearing. Meanwhile, the remaining members will continue to manage the collective farm together until the herd multiplies sufficiently to allow every individual to own a personal livestock enterprise.
The chairperson explained that severe environmental and economic hardships initially drove the members to pool resources.
“Family hardships drove us together,” Kimatu said. “Initially, individual farming proved difficult because wild animals particularly hippopotamuses straying from Lake Jipe frequently invaded our homesteads and preyed on our livestock. However, since we adopted a communal farming model, we have seen a massive turnaround.”
Shadrack Mutungi, the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Youth, Sports, Gender, Culture, and Social Services, commended the Makini Kitoghoto group as a stellar model for the county. He revealed that the group has grown exponentially since it began receiving specialized business training, mentorship, and continuous monitoring in 2023.
Starting with a modest baseline of just 13 goats and two cows, the group has since established internal table-banking systems to boost their financial liquidity, enhanced their social welfare programs, and successfully created sustainable livelihoods for all its members.
Mutungi announced that the devolved unit is currently supporting 52 similar groups across all 20 electoral wards under the Wezesha Jamii framework. This structured government support includes intensive entrepreneurship and business management training, hands-on mentorship, and a comprehensive 12-month post-training monitoring program to ensure new start-ups remain viable.
Echoing these remarks, the Director of Public Communications, Samuel M. Mutie, praised the Makini Self-Help Group for its exemplary leadership, unity, and clear vision. He noted that their progress serves as a practical blueprint for how collective community effort, paired with structured government support, can transform lives and build economically resilient societies.
