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7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: HONEY CARE AFRICA, Kenya
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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions or people, nature, and resilient communities
KenyaHONEY CARE AFRICA
Empowered live
Resilient nation
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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES
Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo
or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth
their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition
themselves guiding the narrative.
To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser
that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ
to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models
replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power o Local Action: Lessons rom 10 Years
the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.
Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.
EditorsEditor-in-Chie: Joseph Corcoran
Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding
Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughe
Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,
Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu
DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la Pa
Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.
AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude Honey Care Arica, and in particular the guidance and inputs o Madison Ayer.
photo credits courtesy o Honey Care Arica. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.
Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Honey Care Arica, Kenya. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. New York, NY.
http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858 -
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HONEY CARE AFRICAKenya
PROJECT SUMMARYHoney Care Arica is a social enterprise that strives to raiseincomes or rural Kenyan armers through apiculture. Takingadvantage o a tradition o beekeeping as a supplementarysource o ood and cash income or Kenyan armers,the enterprise has sought to improve the productivityand viability o this sustainable livelihood activity as analternative to poaching, timber-elling, and charcoal burningor many o the countrys poorest rural communities.
Through the design, manuacture, and sale o Langstrothbee hives, the enterprise has intervened to boost the supply
capacities o armers; by agreeing to purchase the honeyproduced at a air rate, the initiative has strengtheneddemand or the raw material. Honey is then packaged andmarketed in urban areas under the brand names HoneyCare Arica and Beekeepers Delight, with the majority oprots being passed on to the 15,000 households takingpart in the initiative to date.
KEY FACTS
EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2002
FOUNDED: 2000
LOCATION: Seven o eight Kenyan provinces
BENEFICIARIES: 15,000 households
BIODIVERSITY: Pollination benefts
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background and Context 4
Key Activities and Innovations 5
Biodiversity Impacts 6
Socioeconomic Impacts 6
Policy Impacts 6
Sustainability 7
Replication 7
Partners 8
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Honey Care Arica was established in 2000 as a social enterprise to
romote sustainable community-based beekeeping in eastern Arica.
he organization works with smallholder armers in rural Kenya by
roviding micronance, training, and community-based extension
ervices to stimulate the development o small-scale apiculture as a
means o combating persistent rural poverty. By providing arming
ouseholds with the means to sustainably produce honey or sale
hrough a collective enterprise, increasing the price received and
vercoming obstacles to market access, the initiative has sought to
iversiy livelihood options or Kenyas rural poor.
Bee-keeping: an underdeveloped rural industry
raditionally, beekeeping in Kenya predominated in arid and semi-
rid regions o the country, rather than in Kenyas more productive
ural areas. At root, this stemmed rom the livelihood decisions made
y people in these dierent areas based on environmental, cultural,nd social variables, which have subsequently been reinorced
y successive waves o state-led and international development
nterventions. Traditionally, those living in areas with high rainall,
ertile soils, and cooler climates ocused on the production o ood
nd cash crops, while the people in the more arid and inertile areas
ither opted or a nomadic pastoral liestyle, creating migratory
outes or cattle, or established a more sedentary liestyle based
n cultivating drought-resistant ood crops, supplemented by
udimentary beekeeping.
With the increased involvement o various Kenyan government
ministries, international development organizations, NGOs, and other
gricultural bodies since the 1960s, these trends were perpetuated,urther underlining this dichotomy. External interventions tended
o target the urther development o pre-existing livelihoods
trengthening soil-based agricultural techniques in areas with rich
oil and sucient rainall, or instance rather than introducing
eekeeping as an alternative livelihood option in these areas. As a
esult, beekeeping and honey production became associated with
emi-arid areas o Kenya such as the Ukambani corridor and Kibwezi,
ocated in semi-arid rontier areas east o Nairobi.
he areas with the highest potential or producing high quality
oney in Kenya have not been ully explored, meanwhile, let alone
roperly utilized. These systemic weaknesses have been urther
xacerbated by the lack o modern hive equipment and specialized
knowledge on honey production: apiculture throughout muc
rural Kenya is still based on the use o inecient log hives and sm
to harvest honeycomb. Various development agency interven
have ailed to stimulate more ecient honey production on a la
scale, meaning that research and development in this sector rem
largely insucient.
A win-win-win partnership model
Honey Care Arica was ounded by three Kenyan entrepren
to address this shortall by creating partnerships between
communities, development agencies, and the private sector. Far
are given a micro-loan to purchase Honey Cares high-qu
Langstroth bee hives, then are given intensive training in apicu
and are supported to develop autonomous honey production
enterprise provides a guaranteed market or the honey produc
air trade prices. Honey Care collects the honey on-site and payson the spot, then processes, packages, markets, and sells the h
through supermarket chains and other clients to urban consum
generating a small prot. Its Honey Care Arica and Beekee
Delight brands have become well-known in the East Arica reg
and have captured a signicant market share. To date, Honey
has benetted an estimated 75,000 individuals in impoveri
rural Kenyan communities. Positive biodiversity impacts have b
achieved through high levels o pollination and promoting
conservation o woodland areas or apiculture.
An internationally-recognized success story
The enterprise itsel has been very successul in gaining suprom private sector actors and development agencies, establish
tripartite model or development and conservation in partne
with rural smallholders. The model has been recognized w
Kenya, regionally, and internationally as an example o a succe
social enterprise, winning awards and unding rom the World
and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In 2
Honey Care was able to replicate its activities in Tanzania w
patient capital loan rom the International Finance Corpora
(IFC). The organizations vision has been adapted over time to
integrate urban actors at the base o the pyramid into the v
chain through the development o new markets and distribu
networks or honey in inormal settlements.
Background and Context
Climate change and its impact on smallholder agriculture conditions is critical for subsistenc
farming communities in East Africa literally a matter of life and death. These communiti
embrace beekeeping as one strategy for improving their resilience.
Madison Ayer, CEO, Honey Care Africa
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Key Activities and InnovationsHoney Cares our main activities comprise manuacturing high-
uality Langstroth beehives or distribution in rural arming
ommunities; providing intensive apiculture training and service
xtension to groups o subsistence armers; buying the honey
produced by armers at air market prices; and processing and
istributing the pure honey products. The key to this process
as been adding value to a pre-existing practice, boosting rural
ousehold incomes and encouraging environmentally sustainable
ctivities. While the idea o beekeeping was not entirely new to
many rural agricultural communities, high-quality beekeeping
quipment, proessional training, and access to markets were not
widespread in 2000. At critical constraint points in the value chain,
Honey Care provides logistical, operational, marketing, and nancial
management to ensure more ecient and equitable options results
or rural stakeholders.
stablishing the production o high-quality honey products throughn integrated, environmentally and economically sustainable
nterprise has built on the existing practice o beekeeping among
ural subsistence armers in Kenya. Typically this uses traditional
ives, made rom hollowed-out logs or clay pots, or low-technology
ives constructed rom locally-available materials. Oten the removal
o the honey in these cases results in many o the bees being killed,
nd can impregnate the honey with the smell o smoke. Honey Care
began producing Langstroth hives o the movable-rame variety
hat maximize the honey crop each season with minimal disruption
o the bee colony. These also require little time and attention on
weekly basis (5-10 minutes on average) meaning that they can
be maintained alongside a armers primary livelihood activity.
By guaranteeing a market or the honey produced, Honey
has incentivized this alternative income-producing activity,
substantial benets or the participants crop harvests.
Extension through partnerships
With a target population o Kenyas 25 million rural poor, partners
with development agencies have been central to Honey C
success. To date, these collaborations have included
beekeeping projects in Kitui and Taita Taveta Districts suppo
by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)
the Ministry o Livestock and Fisheries o the Government o Ke
beekeeping projects with the Aga Khan Foundation through
Coastal Rural Support Programme in Kwale District; a beekee
and biodiversity conservation project around the Kakamega F
area through Community Action or Rural Development (CAR
series o beekeeping and reorestation projects within and arothe Mt. Kenya National Park and Forest Reserve nanced by
UNDP-implemented Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small G
Programme; and an innovative beehive-leasing scheme in
Western, Nyanza and Rit Valley provinces with K-Rep Developm
Agency (KDA), Kenyas largest micronance institution, Arica N
and the IFC.
Honey Care also works with independent smallholder sel-
groups, women and youth groups, and other community-b
organizations to reach its target population. To date, over 15
heads o household have been engaged in beekeeping, represe
a total o approximately 75,000 beneciaries.
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ImpactsBIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Encouraging beekeeping has numerous benets or biodiversity.
Honey Cares projects have been implemented with the expressim o reducing activities harmul to the natural environment, while
ncreasing pollination o plants or healthy ecosystems. The initiative
has been able to monitor and measure some o these impacts
hrough agricultural extension ocers.
Avoided deorestation
Honey Cares beekeeping enterprise is extended to rural amilies
with an overt objective o providing a supplemental income source
s an alternative to damaging activities such as unsustainable
orestry or charcoal production. Apiculture training emphasizes the
environmental advantages o sustainable beekeeping. In addition,
hrough their Bees or Trees program, the organization hasprovided beehives and equipment to armers in exchange or the
preservation o orest acreage within which the hives are housed.
Pollination benefts or agriculture and biodiversity
t is widely acknowledged that honey bees play a critical role in
pollination o ecosystems, and this can be measured in terms o the
value or agricultural cash crops. In 2005, a worldwide economic
valuation o the pollination service provided by insect pollinators
primarily bees) or the worlds main ood crops was estimated at
round USD 208 billion. This was 9.5% o the total value o the worlds
gricultural ood production. The production value o crops that
depend on insect pollination is our times the value o those that donot need insect pollinators (Gallai N. et al., 2009) . In Kenya, economic
valuation o pollination has shown that armers can receive a net
gain o up to 40% in revenue rom the sale o commodities grown
using bee pollination (Kasina et al., 2009) . This gain accrues through
mproved yields both in terms o quantity and quality. Crops such
s melon and butternut, or example, would be unproductive in the
bsence o honey bees.
Honey Care has attempted to quantiy the positive eects o
beekeeping on biodiversity by collecting observations rom Project
Ocer activity reports and armer surveys. To date, more than
0,000 hives have been colonized by endemic bee subspecies. The
use o species indigenous to Kenya is an important requirement
o Honey Cares work, eliminating the possibility o harmul eects
rom introducing an alien species into an ecosystem. 3,500 o the
otal beekeeping households are in semi-arid areas, where bees may
have a positive infuence, but not naturally colonize. By providing
n alternative livelihood or armers who might otherwise cut trees
o make charcoal, however, beekeeping has an indirect benet
or semi-arid acacia areas. 5,000 hives are within 3 km o a orest,
national park, or riparian zone, where it is estimated that they will
have a substantial positive impact through natural colonization. The
average observed increase in crop yields or Honey Care particip
is 15-30%, with some yields increasing by more than 100%.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTSHoney Care is currently working with its partners in seven o
Kenyas eight provinces, and has extended its model to Ma
Tanzania, and Southern Sudan in the past. Within Kenya
population reached has been estimated at 75,000 beneciaries,
whom are indigenous and live in rural areas. O the total benec
in 2010, 32,250 (43%) are women.
The average increase in annual household income rom particip
in Honey Cares projects is USD 250. This is driven by both h
production or resale in ormal and inormal markets and incre
crop yields through pollination. Farmer surveys have ound th
the revenues rom honey production, 33% is typically reinvestood and medicine, 25% in seeds and ertilizers, 18% in school
10% in improving housing, and 5% in launching micro-enterpr
POLICY IMPACTS
Honey Care has worked primarily at the community level, altho
many o its programs have been implemented in partnership
Kenyan government ministries. The group has also been recog
as a model or social enterprises by the Kenya Bureau o Stand
being awarded the Kenya Quality Award in the Small and Med
Enterprise Category in 2004.
The organization was a ounding member o the Kenya HCouncil in 2003. This body represents the major stakeholde
Kenyas beekeeping industry and was ormed as an umbrella o
to promote, coordinate and saeguard their activities and inte
Other main objectives include promoting growth and expan
in the Kenyan bee sector, urthering awareness o and educa
on Kenyan bee products and beekeeping, and ensuring qu
standards and ethical practices in the Kenyan bee sector. Their
also extend to lobbying the Government o Kenya or avou
policies and accompanying measures to support growth
expansion in the beekeeping sector, as well as lobbying internat
governments or avourable trade terms or Kenyan bee produc
Honey Care is currently building a new public-private allianc
promote beekeeping in Kenya on a broad scale. This initiati
being rolled out in strategic beekeeping locations throughou
country and involves private nancing or beekeeping equip
through the Asali Loan with partners such as Equity Bank,
provision o training and extension services in collaboration
the Ministry o Livestock and the National Beekeeping Station
structure o this alliance will acilitate more eective policy sup
or the sector nationwide.
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Sustainability and ReplicationSUSTAINABILITY
Ater seven years development o their value chain, Honey Care
ecame a protable enterprise. The structure o Honey Cares
alue chain is such that advantageous environmental and social
ctivities drive economically protable outcomes or all actors,
making it institutionally and nancially sustainable. The system is
ot dependant on any one actor or group or sustainability, with a
iverse range o stakeholders and partners. Each actor benets by
ull participation, without subsidy. Individual rural communities
ecognize the value o quality beekeeping products, proessional
apacity-building, and access to markets, which yield sustainable
irect and indirect income increases or participants.
he Honey Care enterprise earns prots by applying its expertise at
ritical value chain constraint points. Processed honey products yield
rots or each o the actors that participate in the nished productistribution networks. Development organizations that partner with
Honey Care in beekeeping projects realize their stated objectives o
ustainable development. A wider audience also benets indirectly
rom the environmental benets o beekeeping activities.
Honey Care acts as the lead rm in its value chain model and plays
critical role in its execution. Partner organizations are particularly
elpul in assisting nancially (in the orm o loans, rather than grants)
o individual armers in order to help them through their initial
eriod o beekeeping. Ater this period, the activity is sustainable or
armers, but most will require nancing during the interim.
Development organizations with established eld networks
contribute to sustainability by providing access to commun
leveraging these existing networks minimizes awareness-bui
and community-access costs that may otherwise prove prohibi
REPLICATION
The new alliances Honey Care is developing are designed to en
the scaling o beekeeping within Kenyas rural population. Sta
in new beekeeping areas requires signicant investment o reso
to build awareness o the opportunity, organize lead group
beekeepers, provide equipment, training and service extension
work out the logistics o honey collection and payment. Honey
and its public, parastatal, and development agency partners c
the initial development costs. Beekeeping is a very scalable act
once these initial capacities are in place., due to the widesp
availability o labor, small actual land requirement, and ree nainputs. Private partners then provide the support to scale comme
production in each area.
Honey Care has partnered on beekeeping projects throug
Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Southern Sudan, and its model is b
implemented in numerous projects across Kenya. Honey Care A
Tanzania, launched in 2005, has grown to become the largest s
honey producer and exporter in the country. While the Ke
and Tanzanian businesses initially operated separately, in o
to ocus on unique country requirements, they are now wo
together more closely in anticipation o uture consolidation
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omprehensive East Arican presence. With Kenya and Tanzania as
oundation, and a proven model or scalability, plans are being
eveloped to re-enter other East Arican countries on a permanent
asis, as opposed to the time-bound consultancy basis o previous
nterventions.
he greatest challenge to replication will remain the diculty o
uilding local and regional alliances to establish a oundation or
eekeeping in each area. Policy support or beekeeping varies widelyy country, and has a strong infuence on communities receptivity
o the activity. Local partners also vary in their capacity, resources
nd interest. Inrastructure has a large impact on the economics
beekeeping in individual regions, particularly when considering
ommercial scalability. The long-term commercial viability o
eekeeping as a community livelihood depends on both public and
evelopment partners establishing inrastructural oundation, and
rivate sector partners supporting commercialization.
PARTNERS
ublic Partners and Parastatals:
Ministry o Livestock (Kenya)
National Beekeeping Station (Kenya)
Ministry o Industrialization (Kenya)
Ministry o Forestry and Wildlie (Kenya)
Ministry o Forests and Beekeeping (Tanzania)
Development Agencies:
DANIDA / Government o Kenya
Swiss Contact & Swiss Development Corporation
Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC)/Ministry o Environmental
& Natural Resources
DFID, Dorcas Aid and Mama Mzungu Foundation
UNDP (GEF)EU, DFID, Soros Foundation & World Bank (SME)
U.S. Ambassadors Fund
British High Commission
German Embassy
Embassy o Finland
Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)
NGOs and CBOs:
Aga Khan Foundation
Community Action or Rural Development (CARD)
German Agro Action
World Vision
Action Arica Help International (AAHI)Wildlie Society or Protection o Animals (WSPA)
Biodiversity Conservation Programme (BCP)
Rotary Club o Stroud (UK) and Rotary Club o Hurlingham
Farm Arica
Arica Now
rivate Sector:
Kakuzi Ltd.
Business Alliance Against Chronic Hunger (BAACH)
Equity Bank
Bidco
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304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
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Tel: +1 646 781-4023
www.equatorinitiative.org
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UNs global development network, advocating or change
onnecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better lie.
The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati
o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.
2012 by Equator Initiative
All rights reserved
FURTHER REFERENCE
Jiwa, F. 2003. Honey Care Aricas tripartite model: an innovative approach to sustainable beekeeping in Kenya. XXXVIII Congress APIM
DIA, Ljubljana, Slovenia. http://www.apimondia.com/apiacta/slovenia/en/jiwa.pd
Gallai N, Salles JM, Settele J, Vaissire BE, 2009. Economic valuation o the vulnerability o world agriculture conronted to pollinator dec
Ecological Economics (68), 810-821
Kasina M., J. Mburu, M. Kraemer and K. Holm-Mller. 2009. Economic beneft o crop pollination by bees: A case o Kakamega small-h
arming in western Kenya. Journal o Economic Entomology, 102 (2): 467-473
http://www.apimondia.com/apiacta/slovenia/en/jiwa.pdfhttp://www.apimondia.com/apiacta/slovenia/en/jiwa.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348162144.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348258226.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348164031.pdf