- Funding from the British High Commission aims to lift Kenyans across five counties out of extreme poverty.
- The project will equip the Government of Kenya with the essential tools and technical expertise to implement and scale the initiative nationally, and for it to become part of the Government’s economic inclusion program.
- The program will benefit nearly 90,000 people and launch almost 3,000 sustainable businesses.
NAIROBI, Kenya, November 24, 2025 – A partnership led by Village Enterprise, a nonprofit working to end extreme poverty in rural Africa, today announced the launch of a new £7m project funded by the British High Commission. This initiative aims to equip vulnerable households to break the cycle of extreme poverty and become more resilient to climate change across arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) counties in Kenya.
The project, Kuza Jamii II, will focus on strengthening household resilience to climate change by improving access to skills, financial services, and livelihood opportunities—fostering long-term social and economic inclusion for vulnerable communities. It will also equip the Government of Kenya with the approaches, staff expertise, and operational tools to deliver, in the selected counties and nationwide, a scalable poverty graduation model. Poverty graduation is an approach that equips people living in extreme poverty with training, startup capital, and mentoring to build sustainable businesses and lift themselves out of poverty. The aim is for the model to become part of the Government’s Economic Inclusion program.
Running from late September 2025 to March 2026, Kuza Jamii II will benefit nearly 90,000 people across five ASAL counties—Garissa, Isiolo, Mandera, Marsabit, and Tana River—as well as the Dadaab refugee settlements.
Village Enterprise’s proven poverty graduation program will provide 8,800 participants with extensive training in entrepreneurship, business skills, and financial literacy, and will provide business startup grants of KES 30,000 for participants to launch businesses in groups of three.
A total of 2,933 climate-resilient businesses will be established as part of the program. The businesses operate in sectors such as livestock trade, agriculture, camel milk trade, and retail. As part of the poverty graduation program, the entrepreneurs also join savings groups, known as Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), to help encourage savings and provide capital for loans. The businesses will help the entrepreneurs to generate a consistent income and become more resilient to threats from climate change and extreme weather, indirectly benefiting 47,340 dependents.
Lynett Ochuma, Ag. Secretary, Directorate of Social Development (DSD) said: “The Government of Kenya has been implementing economic inclusion programming through the State Department for Social Protection since 2019 with support from the World Bank and the British High Commission. To complement these efforts, the British High Commission is partnering with the Government and the consortium led by Village Enterprise to strengthen our national capacity to address extreme poverty and climate-related challenges in ASAL counties in Kenya. Through Kuza Jamii II, we are ensuring that the national economic inclusion program is sustainably managed and scaled to achieve long-term resilience and lift vulnerable Kenyans out of extreme poverty.”
British High Commission’s Deputy High Commissioner, Diana Dalton, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the Kuza Jami II program, which will lift thousands of Kenyans in rural areas out of poverty.
“The UK is committed to helping Kenyans build resilience to climate change for the long term in different ways. We recognize the critical importance of putting the empowerment of local communities at the heart of all approaches, including access to new opportunity for the most vulnerable and at risk. This is a fantastic example of how the Kenya-UK Strategic Partnership is making a real difference to lives across Kenya. We’re going far, together.”
Taddeo Muriuki, Chief Government Relations and Technical Assistance Officer at Village Enterprise, said: “Kuza Jamii II is the next crucial step in ensuring that the Economic Inclusion Program is not just successful, but sustainably owned and driven by the Government of Kenya. By supporting the Government to design and strengthen its own poverty graduation model, and by co-developing a clear transition and sustainability strategy with expert partners, we are helping institutionalize solutions that will permanently benefit the most vulnerable populations for years to come. Today marks a great leap forward in our collective efforts to eradicate extreme poverty in Kenya.”
-ENDS-
Media enquiries:
Village Enterprise – villageenterprise@wearesevenhills.com
Notes to editors:
Find out more about Village Enterprise’s work here.
About the British High Commission
- For information on UK activity in Kenya, follow @UKinKenya on X, Facebook and Instagram, British High Commission Nairobi on LinkedIn and see British High Commission Nairobi – GOV.UK
- Further detail on the Strategic Partnership can be found in the joint statement from PCS Musalia Mudavadi and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy: Kenya-UK Strategic Partnership: Joint Statement – GOV.UK
About Village Enterprise
Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action. We work with vulnerable women, refugees, and youth who are most impacted by climate change, conflict, and displacement, and equip them with skills and resources to launch climate-smart businesses, build savings, and put themselves and their families onto a sustainable path out of extreme poverty. Village Enterprise has started over 118,000 businesses and positively transformed the lives of over 2.3 million people in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
About the consortium
Alongside Village Enterprise, the Kuza Jamii II transition to Government-led implementation will be delivered by the following expert partners to ensure a smooth handover and sustainable local impact:
- CHASP Advisory, an African development think tank which improves the delivery of social protection and global health programs, will support the Government of Kenya with the coordination of the national economic inclusion program by enhancing its social protection and data management systems.
- The Echo Network Africa Foundation (ENAF), a pan African institution working to empower, position and advocate for girls and women in Africa, will ensure the project empowers the agency, participation, and leadership of the women and youth among the Kuza Jamii II participants, helping to deliver long-term gender equality and social inclusion.
- GENCAD, a local community-based organization, will be delivering Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model in hard-to-reach communities in Mandera County.
- Smart Regional Consultants (SRC), a specialist local consultancy, are also working to link business groups and VSLAs to financial services and local markets in Kenya’s ASAL regions.