Giving Voice to the Land’s Caregivers

The Maasai word “Il’laramatak” means “caregiver.” The work of Il’laramatak Community Concerns (ICC) supports those who take care of the grazing lands of Kenya. Focusing on Kenya’s Kajiado County, ICC ensures that Indigenous Peoples, and especially Indigenous women and girls, participate in climate change policy discussions and planning processes. ICC used CJRF’s earlier funding to organize civil society to demand climate action from the new Kajiado County government and ensure that climate was integrated into its laws and plans. As a result, Kajiado set up four climate policies and completed a County Integrated Development Plan that includes climate priorities identified during ICC’s community dialogues.

With additional funding from CJRF, ICC will focus on ensuring implementation of the initiatives they advocated to create. The renewed CJRF funding of $200,000 USD will enable ICC to organize Kajiado civil society to advocate for gender-responsive budgeting, conduct quarterly multi-stakeholder meetings to assess progress and implementation, conduct climate and gender awareness-raising and advocacy activities, and support knowledge exchange visits to enhance community-led adaptation efforts.