The European Union and Denmark’s continued support to Machakos County

Thursday, 18^th February 2021

MESPT joined the European Union in Kenya Ambassador H.E. Simon Mordue and Embassy of Denmark in Kenya Deputy Ambassador Mr. Henrik Larsen in Machakos County for the #AgriBiz call for application launch by Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) hosted by Machakos Governor, H.E. Dr. Alfred Mutua.

The Agribiz Programme is funded by the European Union and Denmark to a tune of KES 5.1 billion targeting 2,400 youth and women. The launch was held at Machakos ATC which is being supported by MESPT through the AgriFI Food Safety Programme Funded by the EU & Denmark its ministry of foreign affairs DANIDA.

Prior to the launch, the dignitaries had a brief tour at the ATC where MESPT CEO Mrs. Rebecca Amukhoye had an opportunity to give a presentation of the AgriFI support to the ATC. She noted that MESPT had been keen on building food safety system and capacity building of value chain actors in Machakos County through the ATVET model. She further expressed that significant intervention on policy dialogue and infrastructure support had so far been achieved. Key programme milestones in Machakos county include:

1. Constitution of Machakos County Food Safety Committee.
2. Training of master ToTs who will deliver Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary (SPS) training and the Broad Value chain curricula CBET training in Machakos County.
3. Renovation of a training hall at the ATC to ensure conducive learning environment.
4. Infrastructure support to enable the ATC to deliver trainings to broad value chain actors using the Competence Based Education and Training (CBET) curricula.
5. Accreditation of Machakos Agriculture Training Centre (ATC) to an Agriculture Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET).
6. Business plan development for the ATC to ensure its sustainability.
7. Support to selected private sector Lead firms and cooperatives working with farmers within the county.

The Governor of Machakos applauded the support of EU and Danida over the years through various reputable organizations and noted that he was happy with the synergy of MESPT and the county government.

Ambassador Simon Mordue on the other hand interjected that AgriFI programme had established good grounds that the Agribiz programme will exploit while working with various enterprises at the Machakos ATC as their training and incubation hub.