CETRAD is a Bilateral Institution between the Government of Kenya (through The Ministry of Water and Irrigation) and the Government of Swiss Confederation, through the Centre for Development and Environment of the University of Berne. CETRAD was established in July 2002 as a follow up of the then Laikipia Research Programme (1976 - 1997), and therefore builds on the long term preinvestment research facility.
CETRAD is based in Nanyuki, Laikipia County, Kenya. It is concerned with research and training to design strategies for sustainable development, promote land use planning for sustained livelihood and optimal resource use, foster sustainable resource use and management for improved productivity and promote non-farm, non-pastoral enterprises, infrastructure and related services.
Does Commons Grabbing Lead to Resilience Grabbing? The Anti-Politics Machine of Neo-Liberal Agrarian Development and Local Responses
This new publication from the r4d "Towards Food Sustainability"-project employs Ferguson's concept of the "Anti-Politics Machine" to uncover hidden power asymmetries of state-driven development strategies in the age of neoliberalism. "Commons-grabbing" is the institutional change from common to state and private property, often based on a false discourse of "unproductive" or "unused" resources. Institutional pluralism facilitates this process. Moreover, financial compensation for grabbing commons do not equally reach affected people, do not cover their loss and increase vulnerability, thus eroding resilience and especially affecting women.Read more...
THE UMANDE TPA
The Transformative Pilot Actions (TPAs) are aimed at improving farmers’ living standards by creating a positive impact through implementation of research findings. There are two TPAs in Umande location/ward targeting small holder dairy farmers through Umande Dairy Farmers’ Cooperative Society. The TPAs are: i) Farmer capacity building and market integration; and ii) Resolving the middle man challenge to streamline milk supply and stabilize prices.
Democratic participation in a nature reserve: an initiative to combat air pollution
Air quality in the Chilean city of Coyhaique is awful. Researchers from the University of Bern’s UNESCO Chair and their Chilean partners want to change this.
Impact of Economic Regimes on Food Systems in Kenya
This study sought to investigate the prevailing trade conditions in order to understand the extent to which the current food systems have been shaped by Kenya’s trade policy and the extent to which Kenya’s trade policy is embedded in or restricted by international commitments.
Launch of Dairy Value Chain Support Project for the Umande Cooperative Society: Karachi Grounds, Umande on 5th October 2018
CETRAD carries out research to support rural development, especially in the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya. This we do through research and development projects in different parts of the country.
CETRAD has been capacity building the County staff on GIS and Remote Sensing through training and establishment of two GIS/RS stations at each of the eight-county headquarters where KCEP-CRAL is being implemented. CETRAD has organized a regional backstopping strategy workshop for the Eastern region...
Read More...Theme: Supporting water service provision and water resources management through utilization of GIS and Earth Observation Technologies. Venue: Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) Main Campus Dates: "4th - 25th June 2021 CETRAD is participating in the above symposium and will be demonstrating...
Read More...This report presents an innovative and participatory approach to identifying hotspots of water scarcity and conflicts, exemplified by the Ewaso Ng’iro North Basin in Kenya. Hotspots are areas within the Basin that show problematic situations of water scarcity and/or water conflicts. Hotspots are...
Read More...Through financial assistance to Kenya Government from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Spanish Trust Fund an eight year (2012-2020) Integrated Upper Tana Natural Resources Management Project (UTaNRMP) was started which aims at poverty reduction targeting households whose...
Read More...The Ministry of Water & Sanitation and Irrigation is hosting the Kenya Sanitation Conference for the first time, between 28th and 31st October 2019. The Conference aims at providing a forum for safe, practical, scalable, sustainable and innovative solutions towards containment, collection, transport,...
Read More...The 2019 Global Soil Week (GSW) took place on May 26-30 in Nairobi, Kenya. This edition’s thematic focus stemmed from the fact that despite ongoing efforts, there is an increasingly urgent need for inclusive investments in sustainable land management, and the conference provided for an action-oriented...
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Decommissioning of “Community Information Dissemination and Resource Centre (CIDRC)”
Dates/Venue: 16th February, 2015 - Agricultural Training Centre (Makueni)
Workshop - Resources Availability Assessment Methodology
Date/Venue: 15 - 17 Feb 2015 - Moti Pearl Hotel Isiolo (Workshop overview - Article 2)
CETRAD Past Projects (selected few)
1. Assessment of Wetlands Utilisation in Upper Ewaso Nyiro Basin
2. Sustainable Development Appraisal (SDA) Mwingi
3. Human-Elephants Conflicts in the Ewaso Ngiro North Catchment
4. Mt Kenya East (Fence) Baseline survey
CETRAD offers short-term training courses and provides a platform for academic training programmes from collaborating local and foreign universities and other related research institutions. The short-term courses are designed to impact technical skills and provided field based and practical exposure to the target trainees, normally drawn from government and NGO institutions from the respective training fields. The academic training programmes are offered at Masters, PhD and Post Doc levels.
CETRAD runs a rich hydromet data and information base generated from its long term and comprehensive monitoring network in the upper Ewaso Ngiro North river basin. Most of this data is now linked through a real time transmission system and interfaced to its database as well as to some selected Water Resources Users Associations (WRUAs) in the upstream areas.
