Natural Resources Management

Success Story

Empowering Women, Educating Girls and Conserving Mangroves

Through a Natural Resource Based Enterprise

Wasini, the picturesque, entirely Muslim Kenya coastal island of approximately 250 households was until recently a sleepy village that mainly relied on artisanal fisheries and very limited subsistence agriculture. The creation of the Kisite Mpunguti Marine Park in the late 70's diminished the very livelihood base of the community by limiting the access and use of marine resources. For years on end, the women of Wasini attempted various activities aimed at improving their lives and those of their children in an area beset with low school enrolment, malnutrition and basic poverty. The women experimented with crafts and groceries but were unable to compete with those on the mainland that could provide these services to tourists more readily. Effectively, revenues generated from the park were far higher (US$ 130,000 in 1988) than the benefits that local communities gained (US$ 39,000 in 1998) from controlled use and this resulted in a high level of antipathy towards both park management and private sector tour operators. Because of the low level gains by the locals from the marine park, most community members perceived it to be an economic liability rather than asset. To overcome this constraint, there was need to find a useful tool for enhancing social welfare and promote community development. It was against this backdrop that Kenya Wildlife Service, through the dynamic Park Warden Janet Kaleha, proposed to the women's group the construction of a one-kilometer boardwalk through the coral gardens that would be completely owned and operated by the women themselves. The main stipulation required was a commitment to manage the boardwalk as a group, take responsibility for repairs and to use a share of the revenue towards education as well as to minimize cutting of mangroves for fuel. The boardwalk funded through the Netherlands wetlands program was completed in 2001 was constructed in a way that enables visitors to view the ancient coral structures and walk right into luxuriant stands of mangroves above the high water mark. Additional attractions include birds, mangrove invertebrates such as fiddler crabs and shells . IUCN provided start up training in business management and exposure visits to similar community activities. Pact, Inc. developed a detailed and long-term capacity building plan and provided training in governance and leadership as well as basic financial management through USAID/CORE.

Currently, tourists who visit Wasini come via boats, after a snorkel/dive in the Marine Park , have lunch and then take a walk around the Island and visit the boardwalk where they are charged a fee of Kshs. 100 ($1.25). Since inception, the group has generated well over $6,500 in entry fee. The group has used this money to maintain the boardwalk, build a curio shop at the entrance (to diversify and increase income), and to pay cash dividends to members. As a result of these income-generating activities, women now have their own money and, to a certain extent, are more involved in making household-related decisions. The individual money earned by the women has increased their worth/value first at the family level and gradually at the community level where some community members have now even begun borrowing money from women. Shareholders indicate that they are able to send their children to school and to fulfill other basic needs - consequently they are better able to influence decisions in such matters. For the long haul, the group has set up a system to fund island girls' education from revenue generated by the boardwalk enterprise. They have also been able to put up a boutique with proceeds from the boardwalk within the first year of operation. Wasini women group, is a small but useful model on how engendering women issues into conservation does result into meaningful community development. Already there, is an overwhelming quest by other women groups along the Kenyan Coast to replicate this model that was successfully advanced through USAID funding.

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