Nuru Kenya Leads Second Peer Learning Trip in 2025 for Rural Residents of Baringo County

In August 2025, Nuru Kenya facilitated a one-day learning exchange in Kiambu County, Kenya, for Baringo County farmers. The group was composed of cooperative leaders from Tiaty and Baringo North and their subcounty agriculture and livestock officers. This is the second trip that Baringo County leaders have taken this year, as Nuru Kenya focuses on building cooperative capacities to improve Baringo County farming approaches and cooperative agribusinesses.

Nuru Kenya Managing Director Pauline Wambeti with Baringo County farmers

What was the goal of the peer learning trip?

Sharing new approaches to farming and building a cooperative agribusiness can be challenging in rural Baringo County. Farming here is especially risky, as the county is located on arid and semi-arid land (ASAL), where the wrong approaches to farming and cooperative management can leave community members not only hungry but also without viable livelihood options. Nuru Kenya’s Managing Director Pauline Wambeti notes, “The communities we work with don’t have many livelihood alternatives due to aridity and other climate change impacts. Their main livelihood is often insecure for them because it means they have to fight with other communities when searching for pasture and water; they end up being trapped in banditry and rustling. When they see we are willing to expose them to better options of improving their livelihoods, they get very excited. I also get very encouraged.”

Nuru Kenya Managing Director Pauline Wambeti meets with Baringo County farmers

Peer-to-peer learning is a critical component to Nuru Kenya’s approach to strengthening cooperatives, as it gives cooperative members a chance to see real-world examples of the lessons they are learning from Nuru Kenya. Nuru Kenya staff took the participants to visit two cooperatives in Kiambu County, with the goal of providing participants with an the opportunity to learn:

• best practices in agribusiness management from cooperatives that have established enterprises
• how to strengthen cooperative leadership and management capacities
• livelihood diversification and value addition opportunities such as dairy farming and milk value addition
• how to build relationships that foster mentorship and peer-to-peer learning

What did trip participants learn?

While farmers in Baringo County are already working together within informal farmer organizations, these smallholder farmer businesses struggle to operate as professional agribusinesses that provide meaningful opportunities and resources to the rural communities they serve. Pauline shares that she wanted the cooperative leaders “to interact with other progressive cooperative management committees, so that they could learn how to manage their farmer organizations better. I hoped that they would also learn from the challenges and lessons their peers have experienced along the way, including the best practices in terms of compliance, recruitment, retention, and asset management among other key elements.”

Cooperative learning exchange

Pauline points out, “These peer cooperatives started small, but they’ve grown bigger, and their portfolios are big. But, they started small.” Having started similar in size to the Baringo County farmer organizations, Pauline knew these agribusinesses could serve as a great inspiration to the Baringo cooperatives. The trip participants were able to observe:

• agribusiness models that demonstrate profitability and sustainability
• how small beginnings can grow into thriving enterprises
• how to effectively integrate cooperative management principles and the business side of farming
• market access strategies and value addition practices
• how transitioning livelihoods into formal agribusinesses can improve income stability

“One of the most inspiring moments was meeting Ms. Wambui, a woman farmer who manages her dairy farm with such skill and dedication. Seeing her succeed made me realize that women can lead and thrive in farming just as much as anyone else. I came back full of ideas and motivation to improve my own dairy farming and make a real difference in our cooperative.” – Jennifer, Baringo County Farmer

Applying Learning: What is shifting for Baringo County farmers?

Rural communities in Baringo County have faced a lot of challenges. Beyond the droughts and floods that are increasingly prevalent due to climate change, the county has faced conflict due to those limited resources. When communities face conflict, external support becomes more difficult to access, as the area is quickly deemed “too risky.”

Pauline shares that, “Farmers in the marginalized regions believe they are already very disadvantaged so whatever they do will not yield results. But when they get to hear stories from these other farmers–that they also started at a point of disadvantage and they were able to put in effort and learn–they realize they can also get the results that they are seeing. It dawns on them that they are luckythey have a development facilitator who is helping them. The majority [of these businesses in rural communities] will [have] to do it without a facilitator. So they appreciate the role Nuru is doing.”

One trip participant, Alex, a 24-year-old farmer and member of Isaas Farmers’ Cooperative shared, “This trip was a great experience for me as a young farmer. It opened my eyes to many new and practical ideas in dairy farming.” Alex learned about processing cow dung into biogas to lower milk processing costs. Cooperative leaders taught him about growing silage fodder (a type of cow fodder) to promote milk production and cow health. Alex also learned about yogurt production and realized “cooperatives like ours can also move towards value addition to increase income for farmers.”

Baringo County farmers observing Kiambu cattle

Alex reflected on the trip, “This exposure visit has really motivated me as a young person to take dairy farming seriously. I now see farming as a business, not just a way of life. I plan to share what I learned with other members of Isaas Cooperative so that together we can improve our dairy practices and grow our cooperative to greater heights.”

Next Steps in Baringo County

Established in 2008, Nuru Kenya has a long history of supporting rural communities in Kenya and under Pauline Wambeti’s leadership, Nuru Kenya continues to adapt its approach to better serve rural communities and strengthen livelihoods within them. In Migori County, where Nuru first began its work, Nuru Kenya facilitated extensive training before providing peer-to-peer learning trip opportunities.

Pauline shares, “We have flipped the model in the ASAL [arid and semi-arid] areas. Instead of us finishing with the exposure trips like we did in Migori and Homa Bay, we want to bring them early on.[…] It creates interest. It keeps farmers committed to the intervention. It gives them room to even set personal goals. Now we are going to be working with people who are very interested to see the results they saw [on their trips].”

Building on lessons learned in 2025, Nuru Kenya plans to facilitate additional peer learning trips for Baringo County cooperative leaders in 2026.