Empowering Women, Educating Girls and Conserving Mangroves Through a Natural Resource Based Enterprise

The success story of the Wasini Island Women's Group Coral Garden Boardwalk

For years the women of Wasini Island, just opposite the town of Shimoni on the Kenyan Coast, had looked for a way to improve their lives and the lives of their children. The steady stream of tourists visiting the nearby Kisite Marine Park was a ready market for some form of enterprise. The women experimented with crafts and groceries but were unable to compete with those on the mainland that could provide these services more readily. As it turns out the women had access to a resource far more valuable than they had imagined.

The entirely Muslim village of Wasini bordered on an extensive mangrove forest dotted with ancient and picturesque coral heads left over from a time when ocean levels were higher. The women had noticed tourists often trying to access the coral gardens, as they were known, but since it was all within the tidal zone, moving through the area was difficult due to deep mud.

At the same time, following on activities initiated under the USAID funded COBRA Project, the Kenya Wildlife Service was interested in finding a way to better conserve these mangroves. They are an important "fish nursery" for both the marine park and the reserve that supplies fish for the extensive local fishing trade. KWS had experimented with mangrove boardwalks in other areas on the coast with mixed results. KWS had learned that without community ownership and long term capacity building such a project was likely to fail.

Armed with this knowledge KWS, through the dynamic Kisite Marine Park Warden Janet Kaleha, proposed to the Women's group the construction of a one kilometer boardwalk through the coral gardens that would be completely owned and operated by the women themselves. The only stipulation required of the Women's group was a commitment to manage the boardwalk as a group, take responsibility for repairs and to use a share of the revenue towards education as well as to minimize cutting of mangroves for fuel.

The boardwalk, which was completed in 2001 was funded through the KWS wetlands program and IUCN EARO provided start up training in business management and exposure to similar community activities elsewhere. With the close-out of IUCN funding in 2001 KWS moved support of the group to the USAID/Kenya SO5 funded CORE (Conservation of Resources through Enterprise) program and together with its implementation partner Pact, Inc. developed a detailed and long term capacity building plan for the group that would avoid some of the pitfalls of other boardwalk projects. The group has received training in governance and leadership as well as basic financial management through CORE. The day to day mentoring provided by KWS Warden Kaleha is extremely important to the success of this enterprise.

Currently, tourists who visit Wasini come via boats, after a snorkel/dive in the Marine Park they lunch on Wasini and then take a walk around the Island and visit the boardwalk where they are charged a small fee of Kshs. 100 ($1.25) to walk on the boardwalk. The walk is constructed in such a way that visitors can see the ancient coral structures and walk right into a healthy stand of mangroves without getting their feet muddy. Additional attractions include birds, mangrove invertebrates such as fiddler crabs and shells and when the tide is in fish.

Since moving the group under the CORE program KWS and Pact have worked together closely to ensure the group has the skills and resources needed to make this a key success and lesson for the CORE program. From entry fees the group has generated well over $6,500 to date. The women's group has used this money to make repairs to the boardwalk, to build a curio shop at the entrance (to diversify and increase income), and to pay cash dividends to members. The group is currently setting up a system to fund island girls' education from revenue generated by the boardwalk enterprise.

KWS and Pact feel this CORE enterprise is an excellent model for other community based projects being developed in the area. Currently the partners are working on helping local fishermen and tour boat operators to develop a locally managed marine area near Wasini that would provide more pristine snorkeling and scuba diving opportunities to tourists visiting the area. Tying this area, the Wasini boardwalk and other community attractions in the area together will provide an opportunity to market the Shimoni/Wasini area as a key destination for tourists interested in benefiting community based ecologically friendly enterprises.