Restoration starts at home: Training couples to heal land and livelihoods

A man hangs laundry in Taita Taveta, Kenya—part of a couples’ training promoting shared responsibilities in home and restoration work. Photo by Kelvin Trautman / CIFOR-ICRAF

In a new twist on structured community dialogue training within local Community Forest Associations (CFAs), a couple’s workshop held in mid-May 2025 in Kenya’s Taita Taveta County focused on encouraging men and women to share responsibilities both at home and in the field. 

The core message is clear: inclusive restoration efforts work best when both women and men are actively involved – with change beginning at the household level and extending to broader community and beyond.  

“Buy-in and active participation from local individuals and communities, across genders, are essential to achieving sustainable restoration work,” said Mary Crossland, Livelihood and Farming Systems scientist with the Centre for International Forestry Research-World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF). The organization leads the project Delivering Nature-Based Solutions for Forest and Landscape Restoration, funded by the UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions), which promotes community dialogue as a way to enhance local participation in forest and landscape restoration.

“When people aren’t included in decisions over land restoration, or don’t see how they’ll benefit from those restoration activities, they’re a lot less likely to get involved,” said Crossland, who noted the couples’ training was requested by the community.  

Community members in Taita Taveta, Kenya, take part in a gender dialogue session using visual tools to reflect on roles, relationships and restoration. Photo by Kelvin Trautman / CIFOR-ICRAF

“But by taking a household perspective, involving everyone in that household, in decisions around  restoration and the labour behind restoration, you’re much more likely to see sustained and more successful restoration outcomes.” 

Twenty-two couples, already active in restoration activities through their local CFAs, participated in the two-day training event that applied a Gender, Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) approach. At the end of the workshop, spouses agreed to adopt changes at home that could be as simple as sharing tasks – from tree nursery work and beekeeping, to allowing each other time to attend CFA meetings. 

 During the sessions, couples analyzed their shared roles in farming and forest use, practised joint decision-making and communication and pledged, as a family, to support restoration efforts together. Role-playing activities helped to develop empathy between partners, while participants also created markers to track progress and reflected on what a “happy future” could look like for their families.

Importantly, many insisted their spouse be involved – aware that new ideas brought home by only one partner could face resistance. However, with both parties involved, there was a mutual understanding from the start.  

They also pledged to share their training with their community and to take the lead in restoration efforts, designed to improve crop yields while encouraging a sense of ownership in sustainable practices. Most of the couples work in agroforestry, including beekeeping in the forest, fruit trees and vegetable farming, as well as keeping chickens and livestock – mostly for family use, with any excess sold at local markets. 

Couples in Taita Taveta work together in a community tree nursery—part of efforts to strengthen shared responsibility in forest and land restoration. Photo by Kelvin Trautman / CIFOR-ICRAF

The couples’ workshop built on ongoing structured GESI-focused community dialogues that use interactive tools to encourage community-driven discussions that are gender-inclusive. Over 600 Chawia and Vuria CFA members in Taita Taveta have been trained over the past two years under the CIFOR-ICRAF project, with sessions covering topics from gender roles in forestry to equitable decision-making.  

Shifts in attitudes after GESI training have already been reported, with some women saying they feel more confident about speaking up in meetings and playing active roles in restoration projects. Men, in turn, are showing greater willingness to share leadership and labour – particularly when they see the benefits. Successes like this should, in turn, mean greater and lasting achievements in restoration. 

 “Navigating traditional cultural sensitivities, such as men’s reluctance to share household chores or including women in decision-making, is important to promoting change,” said Clemence Mnyika, a community facilitator with CIFOR-ICRAF.

Smoothing frictions between impatient youth and cautious older people is also necessary for success, Mnyika added. 

 “Once people change their mindsets, they can do so much on their own.”  

“GESI training has proven to be so popular that some stakeholders have expressed interest in organizing similar sessions themselves,” said Mnyika. 

“Women have called me up after a training, and say ‘oh, I’m so happy – my husband never listened to anything I say, but now that’s changed’,” she said.  

“Restoration efforts are more impactful when everyone is involved.”  

Acknowledgment 

This project is funded by UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions), a unique capacity-building programme jointly governed and funded by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) through the UK’s International Climate Finance. It works in partnership with countries with high emissions reduction potential to support them in implementing and increasing their ambitions for tackling climate change.  

The project “Delivering nature-based solution outcomes by addressing policy, institutional and monitoring gaps in forest and landscape restoration” is conducted in collaboration with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), FAO-Kenya, and the Government of Taita Taveta County. We would also like to acknowledge and thank the women, men, and community representatives from the Chawia and Vuria Community Forest Association who participated in this project and shared their time and insights.  

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