Creating Shared Value in the Livestock Sector (CASHA)

Creating Shared Value in the Livestock Sector with Young People in Kenya's ASALs (CASHA) aims to create climate-smart and resilient work opportunities through entrepreneurship within the poultry, livestock, fodder and alternative value chains sectors, with a specific focus on financially disadvantaged young women, displaced persons, and persons with disabilities. The project is being implemented in 15 arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) counties of Kenya, grouped into four clusters, over a five-year duration (2025-2030).

Funded by the Mastercard Foundation, CASHA is driven by a consortium of partners, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), SNV, KLMC, BOMA, ILRI, and E4Impact.

The CASHA programme seeks to address the persistent challenges of food and nutrition insecurity in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), where vulnerability to climate change is acute. Covering nearly 80% of Kenya’s landmass and home to 40% of the population, the ASALs are the backbone of the country’s livestock economy, hosting 70% of the national herd. Yet, climate-induced shocks such as recurrent droughts and flash floods undermine livelihoods, exposing households to devastating socio-economic losses. Weak resilience mechanisms limited social protection systems, and chronic underinvestment have left the ASALs with the lowest development indicators.  
 
Inequalities deepen these vulnerabilities. Women, particularly adolescent girls, women with disabilities, refugees, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds, face multiple deprivations, with 65% living in poverty compared to 56% of men. Youth unemployment is equally stark—64% of unemployed Kenyans are young people, with 40% of them in the ASALs. In CASHA’s target clusters, 36% of young women and men are unemployed, despite over one million school leavers entering the labour market nationally each year.
 
The livestock sector—valued at $1.05 billion and growing at 3–5% annually—offers opportunities but is constrained by a deficit of 33 million metric tons of fodder. This gap affects 1.8 million smallholders who lack access to affordable, quality feed, reducing productivity and heightening resource-based conflicts. Despite government and NGO interventions, pastoral livelihoods remain fragile.

The CASHA programme adopts a systems-based intervention approach that integrates skills, entrepreneurship, markets, finance, gender, climate resilience, and enabling policies to strengthen the resilience of pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities. SNV will focus on poultry and alternative value chains, drawing on its proven expertise in youth employment, inclusive market systems, and value chain development. The programme emphasises locally anchored, market-driven solutions that unlock economic opportunities for youth and women, while addressing climate risks and social barriers to participation.  
 
On skills development and entrepreneurship, SNV will strengthen the capacity of TVETs, polytechnics, Village-Based Advisers (VBAs), and community-based organisations to deliver demand-driven, gender-responsive training. Youth and women-led enterprises will receive incubation, mentorship, startup kits, and business development support to enhance self-employment and job creation.
 
In market systems development, SNV will apply its inclusive value chain approach to create market access pathways for poultry and alternative products. This includes supporting aggregation models, digital platforms, contract farming, and guaranteed market systems that enhance linkages between producers and private sector actors.
 
For financial inclusion, CASHA will strengthen Village Savings and Loan Associations and link them to formal financial institutions while working with partners like E4Impact to implement challenge funds. SNV’s youth finance models will expand opportunities for young men and women to invest in enterprises along the poultry and alternative value chains.  
 
Cross-cutting interventions will integrate GESI and climate resilience, ensuring women’s leadership, addressing social norms, and promoting regenerative practices, digital weather services, and insurance schemes. Finally, through policy engagement, CASHA will enhance county-level institutional capacity, advocate for inclusive adaptation strategies, and embed sustainability and scalability into interventions, ensuring long-term transformative impact.

CASHA aims to target 300,000 young people and create dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for 200,000 young people, 70% young women, 10% PWDs, 10% IDPs and Refugees. The production of animal feeds and large ruminants, CASHA will target up to 70% women while for the small livestock including poultry, goats, beekeeping, vegetables and grains the program will target 100% women. The project’s challenge fund will prioritise young women, with a target of 90% female partcipants.