The Nyahera Community Resource Center, established by Bengi Investment Group (BIG) in collaboration with the Center for International Voluntary Service (CIVS), serves as a hub for business development, community banking, sustainable agriculture, and environmental conservation. The center's flagship project is a model farm designed to showcase innovative technologies and approaches for community development. This initiative emphasizes the cultivation and processing of Indigenous African Vegetables, herbs, fruits, fish, insects, and agroforestry. The model farm also promotes vertical gardening to maximize space usage and eco-friendly farming practices. The center offers hands-on training for farmers, entrepreneurs, and the broader community while providing opportunities for both international and local volunteers to engage in meaningful community work.
Nyahera, like many rural communities in Kisumu County, faces several socio-economic and environmental challenges. Limited access to business skills, modern agricultural techniques, and financial services, coupled with declining biodiversity, negatively impacts local livelihoods. To address these challenges, the Nyahera Community Resource Center was established to provide solutions through education, technology transfer, and community- driven development. The model farm serves as a demonstration and training facility for local farmers, small business owners, and students, highlighting practices in sustainable agriculture, business development, and environmental stewardship.
The model farm comprises the following sections:
• Cassava Demonstration Farm: A field dedicated to showcasing improved cassava cultivation
techniques, including propagation, pest management, and post-harvest processing.
• Indigenous African Vegetables: Cultivation of a variety of traditional
• African vegetables, demonstrating their nutritional value and potential for commercialization.
• Herb Garden: A space dedicated to growing medicinal and culinary herbs, educating the
community about their health benefits and uses in value-added products.
• Fruit Orchard: An orchard showcasing sustainable fruit tree farming, with varieties such as
mangoes, avocados, and citrus fruits.
• Fish Farming: A small aquaculture system demonstrating sustainable fish farming techniques
and offering training in fish breeding, pond management, and water conservation.
• Agroforestry: An integrated agroforestry system combining trees, crops, and livestock for
environmental sustainability and enhanced soil fertility.
• Vertical Garden: A demonstration of urban and peri-urban agriculture techniques using vertical
gardening to maximize limited space and improve food security in urban and peri-urban
settings.
İş Tanımı
• Agriculture and Farming: Engage in day-to-day activities on the model farm, including planting, weeding, harvesting, and processing of crops such as Indigenous
• African Vegetables, herbs, and fruits.
• Community banking and Business Development: Assist in establishing and training community savings groups, as well as supporting local entrepreneurs through mentoring, business plan development, and market research.
• Environmental Conservation: Participate in environmental conservation projects, such as tree planting, agroforestry, and setting up vertical gardens for urban and peri-urban agriculture.
• Educational Workshops and Training: Facilitate or assist in conducting training sessions for local farmers, community members, and students on sustainable agriculture, business development, community banking, financial literacy, and environmental management.
• Marketing and Communications: Help promote the activities of the center by assisting with digital marketing, content creation for social media, or documenting the center’s success stories for outreach purposes
Konaklama ve Yemek
Accommodation will be in host families at the project in shared rooms and it is important that they have own sleeping bag and mosquito nets. During the workcamp, volunteers will get food from locally available foodstuffs and will share the responsibility of preparing the food.