Farming a sustainable future

Nelly Shonko is CAFOD's Programme Officer for Sustainable Livelihoods in East Africa [Annie Bungeroth]

Nelly Shonko works across the plains of East Africa, encouraging farmers to work in a more environmentally-friendly way

Nelly Shonko is a programme officer in charge of sustainable livelihoods in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Nelly has been working for CAFOD since June 2001.

Her job involves visiting a dozen CAFOD partners across the plains of East Africa to check on their progress and train and encourage them in programmes that encourage farmers to work in a more environmentally-friendly way.

"What motivates me is when I visit the farmers and see what kind of work they are doing," says Nelly.

"You can see they have really achieved something in terms of diversification of crops, improvement of hygiene and breeding small livestock."

"Their neighbours may just grow one crop, like bananas or pulse," she says. "But their vulnerability decreases if they aren’t just dependent on one crop."

"They are working towards being self-sufficient. It makes me feel good to see that they are growing different crops and they will actually have some food in their stores."

How does CAFOD make a difference in East Africa?

"If CAFOD wasn’t providing the financial support for partners to work with those families and households, the work would not be done," says Nelly.

"I think the kind of support we receive doesn’t go to waste. It goes to the people who really need it. People who had to walk six km each way to collect water now have water just 500 metres from their home.

"We couldn’t have done that without the support of people in the UK. The role they play is critical."

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