You Can Support Maasai Grass Managers with a Gift Today!

Why Pasture?

Traditional livestock keepers are strongly conservative in terms of preserving their culture and way of doing things, including grazing habits. 85% of Maasai income comes from livestock, but livestock can only be healthy and sellable if they eat well. This means that managing pasture strategically is critical to economic stability.

While some Maasai lost everything in the recent three-year drought, they haven't taken advantage of the abundant grass growing now that it's raining again. And the one thing we know is that another drought will occur eventually. We need to prepare now to prevent the loss of livestock.

Investing in education on this critical topic could make a huge difference. Even if 10-20% of the nearly 12,000 livestock farmers in this region start sharing this vision, the ecosystem can be greener and more prosperous within 3 years.

Through our Livestock as a Business (LAB) and Hope for Widows programs, we've developed highly successful curricula and teaching methods specifically adapted for Maasai communities. Now we're expanding that focus to include pasture conservation, which will prepare Maasai to withstand the devastating effects of prolonged drought.

WILK Co-Founder, Joseph Larasha, leading a grazing management training session near Amboseli, Kenya earlier this year.

Our Plan for Pasture

Livestock keepers participating in our LAB program managed to keep their animals alive during the recent drought. This is due to skillful pasture conservation and planning ahead.

We decided to bring this same method to the Grazing Management Committee (GMC) leaders through a new program called Planning for Pasture. First we spent time understanding their needs. Then we developed a curriculum to empower all GMCs to train community members and build cooperation between them.

We teach the committees to set goals and then develop indicators to measure success. We also teach drought cycle management and pasture conservation. Finally, we “train the trainers to train” by assigning topics to the committee members. This lets them practice teaching and designing lesson plans which prepares them to teach their communities later on.

So far, the responses from the 176 people we have trained have been extremely positive. Several members said, “We’ve never had training like this before. When are you coming back?”

A Map of WILK’s work region in Kajiado County, Kenya, highlighting the 11 grazing zones of the Ogulului-Olalarashi Group Ranch.

How You Can Help

Together with the GMCs, we have begun promoting the vision of a “3D Free Zone”—a “No Death During Drought Zone.”

You can help us support Maasai grass managers by contributing to our Planning for Pasture Campaign by clicking the "Donate" button. Your gift—at any level—will get us closer to providing the education and support that Maasai need to thrive in their challenging environment.

Our WILK Field Officer, Cate, leading a grazing management training session for the Ilmarba and Ilkisonko zones leaders.