Update on meetings with Kenya Biodiversity Coalition

On January 25th I reported that I had been invited to an anti-GMO conference held by members of Kenya Biodiversity Coalition (KBioC). I did not go. A few things happened. There was a lot of suspicion on their part…some guy shows up in Nairobi, out of nowhere, and wants to attend our ‘writeshop.’ Several of them had to go as far as to check with their major donors to see if I could attend. In the end three organizations could not get their donors to agree. However, they did agree that I could attend the last two days, which were just discussion days. But then the group at the meeting decided that I wouldn’t benefit from the discussion days, mostly because it would be in Swahili. Fair enough.

Josphat’s organization really wants me to meet members of KBioC. We tried to arrange to meet several times over the last week but nothing worked out until today. They were having a planning meeting near the house – perfect! What I didn’t quite get, and this is my fault, is that all the times we have tried to meet has just been to introduce myself and then see if we can arrange one-on-one meetings with KBioC members. I really wanted to sit in on the planning meeting but I couldn’t. Today, I arrived at the Consumers Information Network of Kenya office and waited in the lobby until their meeting reached agenda two, me. I didn’t wait long. I was invited into a room with a long table and about 10 people sitting around it. They were all part of KBioC’s working group. The meeting was short; I felt like it was mostly me convincing them that I was legitimate. In the end we were all excited. I am going to get a chance to meet with all the organizations that were represented in the meeting, plus they started listing off other groups I needed to meet with, including farmer groups in the rural areas. Now I need another month here. Samuel Ochieng was present. He is someone I was really hoping to meet with and it was totally random that I met him today. He is the CEO of Consumer Information Network and president of Consumers International.

Here are some of the groups:
African Biodiversity Network (ABN)
Building Eastern Africa Community Network (BEACON)
Participatory Ecological Land and Use Management (PELUM):
Kenya Organic Agricultural Network (KOAN)
Consumer Information Network of Kenya
Consumers International

KOAN is going to connect me with African Insect Science for Food and Health (ICIPE). They are in the same building as KOAN and shared the Food Sovereignty Honorable Mention Award with CAGJ. They are going to try to also connect me to another building-mate IFDC, “an International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development.” In Nigeria, they are receiving a grant from AGRA to strengthen 1400+ agrodealers. Check out their board members' profiles.