Project
Creating awareness on recognising the Mukogodo’s Yiaku people as a tribe
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Amount Funded
24,985 EUROProject Duration
01 Jul 2019 - 30 Jun 2020 -
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Lead organisation
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Yiaku Laikipiak Trust (YLT) is a women-led community-based organisation prioritising women empowerment as well as the preservation of the Yiaku language, their culture and the protection of Mukogodo forest in Laikipia County in Kenya. Yiaku works in collaboration with over eight women’s groups around the Mukogodo region and other community members and institutions.
The organisation envisions a world where the rights of indigenous minority communities are respected and their culture and environment preserved for posterity; a society where all are equal and part of decision-making and resource-sharing.
The organisation’s mission creates an enabling environment for the enjoyment of the fundamental rights of the Yiaku youth, women and children in their respective groups through capacity strengthening activities, networking and advocacy ensuring culturally appropriate development in tandem with their customs and beliefs; hence improved livelihood by 2024.
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Organisation
Yiaku Laikipiak Trust (YLT) is a women-led community-based organisation prioritising women empowerment as well as the preservation of the Yiaku language, their culture and the protection of Mukogodo forest in Laikipia County in Kenya. Yiaku works in collaboration with over eight women’s groups around the Mukogodo region and other community members and institutions.
The organisation envisions a world where the rights of indigenous minority communities are respected and their culture and environment preserved for posterity; a society where all are equal and part of decision-making and resource-sharing.
The organisation’s mission creates an enabling environment for the enjoyment of the fundamental rights of the Yiaku youth, women and children in their respective groups through capacity strengthening activities, networking and advocacy ensuring culturally appropriate development in tandem with their customs and beliefs; hence improved livelihood by 2024.
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Project
The indigenous people of Yiaku are the native inhabitants of the Mukogodo forest and over time have been assimilated into stronger tribes especially the Maasai and Samburu through intermarriages. Gradually they have lost their habitat, language, culture and identity, and not even the government has an accurate record on the population of the Yiaku people, which is preventing their recognition as a documented tribe with a dialect.
Creating awareness on the recognition of Yiaku people of Mukogodo as a Kenyan tribe project creates an opportunity for the Yiaku people to be counted during the 2019 census in Kenya. This process entails lobbying with the concerned institutions and stakeholders and creating awareness on the census in the interior areas that the government has had minimal reach due to the remoteness.
Women are at the forefront of this project, this experience builds their capacity and exposes them to leadership and project management skills. As a result of being counted, the Yiaku people have a basis of seeking their rights to resources and take part in decision making.
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The indigenous people of Yiaku are the native inhabitants of the Mukogodo forest and over time have been assimilated into stronger tribes especially the Maasai and Samburu through intermarriages. Gradually they have lost their habitat, language, culture and identity, and not even the government has an accurate record on the population of the Yiaku people, which is preventing their recognition as a documented tribe with a dialect.
Creating awareness on the recognition of Yiaku people of Mukogodo as a Kenyan tribe project creates an opportunity for the Yiaku people to be counted during the 2019 census in Kenya. This process entails lobbying with the concerned institutions and stakeholders and creating awareness on the census in the interior areas that the government has had minimal reach due to the remoteness.
Women are at the forefront of this project, this experience builds their capacity and exposes them to leadership and project management skills. As a result of being counted, the Yiaku people have a basis of seeking their rights to resources and take part in decision making.
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The Yiaku Laikipia Trust empowerment grant project focussed on creating awareness on the recognition of Yiaku people of Mukogodo as a Kenyan tribe. The project created an opportunity for the Yiaku people to be counted during the 2019 census in Kenya. The collection of data on the population of the Yiaku served as a reference during advocacy initiatives. The data collected was to enumerate the current number of Yiaku as it stands to date for purposes of laying a basis to demand for recognition. A petition presented to stakeholders including, The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), The Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission (IEBC), The County Government of Laikipia and the Presidency was drawn up highlighting the issues faced by the Yiaku as a people and to show the need for recognition and coding of the people as a Kenyan tribe.
A key win for the project is the rejuvenation and the self-identity of the Yiakunte as a people with a unique culture, history, livelihood and language. This has been made successful by inclusion of the County& National Government and the Local Administration, the chiefs and community opinion leaders. The self-census involved informing the Yiaku people on the importance of being identified as a Yiaku and not the tribes that they have been assimilated to. For example the case of Mzee (elder in Kiswahili) Issa Nkapilil Supuko, a Yiaku elder, artist and musician who has been empowered by the project to write and record songs that tell Yiaku stories and seek recognition of the Yiakunte dialect. Have a listen here or here.
Looking ahead…
Yiaku Laikipia Trust wants to continuously lobby of decision makers now that they understand that a distinct coding and recognition of a tribe can only be achieved through the office of the president. There is need to secure a meeting with the Attorney General to continue this process and this has been stalled as most public official are working from home and there are competing national priority issues.
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News
