What We Do
Five programmes that tackle the challenges facing smallholder farmers and rural communities across Kenya.
Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
From farm to market: building food-secure communities
We work with smallholder farmers, producer groups, traders, and agribusinesses on better productivity, climate-smart farming, post-harvest handling, and market access.
Training, technical support, and market linkages help farming communities earn more and eat better. We work across the whole value chain, from soil health and seed selection through to post-harvest handling and getting produce to market.
Key Activities
- Climate-smart agriculture training and demonstration
- Farmer field schools and extension services
- Post-harvest management and value addition
- Market linkage and aggregation support
- Farmer organization and cooperative strengthening
- Nutrition-sensitive agriculture promotion
Environmental Conservation & Climate Resilience
Protecting ecosystems, building adaptive capacity
We help communities manage natural resources responsibly, restore degraded landscapes, protect biodiversity, and prepare for climate-related shocks, because healthy land and water are what everything else depends on.
Droughts, floods, and shifting planting seasons already threaten farming communities across Kenya. Our environmental programmes help people understand and prepare for these changes, while restoring the land and water they depend on.
Key Activities
- Landscape and watershed restoration
- Agroforestry and tree planting programmes
- Soil and water conservation techniques
- Climate risk assessment and early warning systems
- Biodiversity conservation and monitoring
- Community-based natural resource governance
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)
Safe water and sanitation as a foundation for health
Clean water and sanitation change everything downstream of them, so we work with communities, institutions, and local governments on water resource management, hygiene awareness, sanitation infrastructure, and community-led maintenance.
Almost everything ALEN works toward depends on clean water: healthy people, productive farms, stronger livelihoods. That's why we treat WASH, community health, and economic wellbeing as one connected system.
Key Activities
- Safe water access point construction and rehabilitation
- Community water management committee training
- Sanitation infrastructure development
- Hygiene promotion and behaviour change
- Water quality monitoring and testing
- School and health facility WASH interventions
Sustainable Energy Solutions
Clean energy as a driver of community resilience
ALEN helps communities access energy technologies that improve livelihoods, cut environmental damage, and build resilience, through awareness campaigns, training, and support to adopt renewable energy. Affordable, clean energy opens doors.
Energy access creates economic opportunity, from solar-powered irrigation to clean cooking solutions that cut indoor air pollution and deforestation. We work to bring these technologies to the communities that need them most.
Key Activities
- Solar energy awareness and adoption support
- Clean cookstove promotion and distribution
- Biogas installation and training
- Energy needs assessments in rural communities
- Capacity building for energy entrepreneurs
- Links to energy financing mechanisms
Research, Learning & Capacity Strengthening
Evidence that informs action, learning that drives improvement
Since good decisions need good evidence, we carry out research and assessments that inform policy and practice, and build the skills of individuals, communities, institutions, and local organisations through training, mentorship, and technical support.
Development sticks when local institutions are strong, people are capable, and decisions are backed by solid evidence. Our research and capacity programmes turn knowledge into action, so communities, partners, and policymakers have what they need to act.
Key Activities
- Agricultural and livelihoods research and assessments
- Policy analysis and stakeholder engagement
- Training of trainers and extension agent capacity building
- Institutional capacity assessments and strengthening
- Knowledge management and documentation
- Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems
14+
Years, Founder's Field Experience
6
Countries, Founder's Track Record
5
Integrated Programmes
2024
Year Founded
What we're working toward
Stronger Livelihoods
We help smallholder farmers, traders, women, and youth earn more by improving productivity, opening market opportunities, and diversifying income.
Climate Resilience
We help rural communities prepare for, withstand, and recover from climate shocks through climate-smart agriculture and risk mitigation.
Equitable Development
We work to include women, youth, and marginalised groups fully in agricultural and economic opportunities.
Published Research Behind Our Approach
ALEN is a new organisation, but our approach isn't untested. Our founder, Sylvester Aura, has spent over 14 years researching and publishing on the issues we now work on.
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development · 2016
Determinants of the Adoption of Integrated Soil Fertility Management Technologies in Mbale Division, Kenya
By Sylvester Aura · What drives smallholder adoption of soil fertility practices: evidence behind ALEN's agriculture programming.
Acta Horticulturae · 2013
The Diversity of Indigenous African Leafy Vegetables Produced, Consumed and Sold in Vihiga District, Western Kenya
By Sylvester Aura · Indigenous crops and household nutrition in western Kenya, presented at the International Symposium on Underutilized Plant Species.
CGIAR Initiative on Seed Equal, Progress Report · 2024
Social and Behaviour Change Intervention for Scaling Equitable Access to Rice and Common Bean Seeds to Women and Young Smallholder Farmers in Butaleja District, Eastern Uganda
Co-authored by Sylvester Aura · Seed access for women and youth farmers: the inclusion focus at the centre of ALEN's own approach.
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