“We never ask communities to abandon their culture. We help families discover that when women thrive, everyone benefits,” says Isaac Atsiaya, Trainer at The Permagardens Foundation and Lead at United for Poor Communities.
For three and a half years, drought gripped Kenya’s coast. The Mijikenda, the region’s largest indigenous community, saw their crops fail and the sacred Kaya forests, central to their spiritual life, dry up. Food became scarce in many homes, and with incomes gone, many parents could no longer keep their children in school.
When hope seemed to be fading, change arrived in an unexpected form.
Not through food aid.
Through a permagarden.
The Mijikenda account for an estimated 60 to 70 percent of Kenya’s coastal population and about 5.23 percent of the country’s total population. The community is made up of nine closely related sub-tribes that share a rich cultural heritage rooted in family, ancestral traditions, and the sacred Kaya forests.
Women have always sustained daily life. They cultivate crops, raise children, preserve traditions, and care for their homes. Yet decisions about land, income, and household finances have traditionally belonged to men.
Rather than challenge those traditions head-on, The Permagardens Foundation and United for Poor Communities chose a different path.
“When we introduce family permagardens, we begin with the men,” Isaac explains. “We show them videos of families that have already benefited and take them to see successful gardens for themselves.”
Seeing the results firsthand changed minds. Instead of resisting the idea, many men encouraged their wives to participate, opening the door to something that had rarely existed before: women earning and managing their own income.
Today, vegetables harvested from small backyard gardens provide regular meals, while surplus produce is sold to cover school fees and other household expenses. Even during dry periods, climate-smart gardening continues to produce food.
The Impact reaches well beyond nutrition. Women who were once excluded from financial decisions are now contributing directly to the well-being of their families. Confidence has grown alongside the crops, replacing long-held assumptions about what women can achieve.
For Isaac, the lesson extends beyond agriculture.
“Some cultural practices can limit women’s opportunities,” he says. “But when people see how the entire family benefits, they embrace the change. Respect always opens more doors than confrontation.”
Across Mijikenda villages, green gardens are becoming symbols of something far greater than food security. They represent resilience after years of hardship, stronger partnerships within the home, and a future where prosperity grows from the ground up.
