Advancing social justice, promoting decent work
ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations
English
Impact story
Poultry that connects: Inside a Farmer Service Centre in Kenya
In Kakuma, a Farmer Service Centre run by brooder Charles Lukudu — a refugee from South Sudan — is transforming poultry farming into a bridge between refugee and host communities. With support from ILO PROSPECTS and Sustainable Approaches for Community Empowerment (SAPCONE), the centre delivers quality chicks, lowers costs, and links farmers to markets, showing how poultry can drive livelihoods in arid conditions.
Based in Turkana West, Charles supplies hardy, month-old growers to smallholder farmers across the Kakuma–Kalobeyei corridor. Through practical training, incubator support and hands-on coaching provided by ILO PROSPECTS and SAPCONE, he has professionalised his operation. Survival rates have improved, costs for farmers have come down, and trust between refugee and host producers continues to strengthen.
Charles has learned to coordinate orders, arrange last-mile deliveries and share husbandry tips in real time— evidence of a growing enterprise that connects producers to quality inputs, information, and buyers.
This initiative is part of ILO PROSPECTS’ broader poultry value-chain upgrade in Turkana West, designed to economically empower women and youth. By commercialising poultry farming, the programme increases access to quality chicks and feed, reduces costs through local innovations, and strengthens producer groups to reach markets and finance.
Focused on sites across Kakuma, Kalobeyei and Lopur—including the refugee camp and the Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement—the model uses Farmer Service Centres, targeted training and behaviour-change communication to embed decent-work opportunities and foster social cohesion between refugees and host communities.
This model is creating decent-work opportunities while fostering social cohesion—demonstrating how poultry can thrive, even in Turkana’s arid climate.
