By Bob Aston and Jane Kariuki
The Ng’arua Maarifa Centre has finally
relocated to its new premise near the Sipili District Officer’s compound. The
centre was allocated a temporary land by the provincial administration and has
now placed a fabricated container at the site. Relocation which started on
Monday is now complete and normal work has now resumed at the centre.
Ng’arua Maarifa Centre was founded in
2006 by Arid Lands Information Network. The centre started as an access point
for disseminating information and was run by the Ng’arua Focal group comprising
of community development workers from the public and private sector.
The centre also oversaw the
successful launch of Sokopepe where
over 500 people attended and trained on Sokopepe
SMS services. Six (6) champion farmers from other Maarifa Centres also
participated.
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| The old Maarifa premise |
The centre was found to be very
helpful to the communities and other development workers and it was improved to
become a Community Knowledge Centre.
“The land provided by the provincial
administration will enable Arid Lands Information Network to start demo-gardens.
The new site has a big compound hence enough space for expansion if need
arises,” said Kibe Muthiora, ALIN representative during the relocation.
The centre serves more than 26,000
community members yearly on various services. More than 7200 have accessed
E-government services; more than 1200 have been trained on ICT skills while 31
groups have been reached with technical farming information.
The Maarifa has shared more than 160
best practices on agriculture and climate change adaptation as well as increasing
partnerships with government, local CBO’s and NGO’s.
“We are glad to host the Maarifa
Centre. The centre has been instrumental in improving the livelihoods of
communities living in Sipili through delivery of practical information using
modern technologies. This is an initiative which we fully support,” said Paul
Nasky, Senior chief Wangwaci.
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| The new Maarifa Premise |
Sokopepe has
so far more than 2136 registered and active users. Ng’arua Maarifa centre alone
has so far done more than 18 transactions. Tangaza
money, a mobile payment solution has also been incorporated in Sokopepe as a means of payment.
“This new location is good. It is
quite here thus it will provide a good place for studying,” said Reuben, one of
the Maarifa users.
The centre has overseen the formation
of Laikipia Produce and Marketing Cooperative Society which now has more than
200 registered members as well as training over 600 farmers and groups on value
chain, farming practices and markets.
The Maarifa centre has also been
offering free training on basic journalism skills. More than 80 youths have
been trained. Through their blog Laikipia Rural Voices the citizen journalists
from the Maarifa Centre have posted more than 190 articles.
Laikipia Rural Voices wishes Ng’arua
Maarifa Centre and the ALIN family all the best as they start a new journey.
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