Itanya, meaning “hope” in Swahili, was born out of the desire to give female smallholder farmers dignified livelihoods. With a combination of about 30 years of experience, and multiple opportunities to work with and for farmers through agribusiness, agri-tech support, research, and policy-making, the founders found it fit to pivot into social impact work, with the desire to change the lives of smallholder farmers.
Our Background
We are a dynamic non-profit organization formed in 2023 committed to capacity building, building resilient instruments, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), and the application of behavioral science to empower women and youth in agriculture through grounded practices. Our evidence-based approach strategically integrates these pillars, aiming to uplift smallholder farmers’ livelihoods across Africa.
Our interventions encompass a spectrum of impactful areas, including leveraging social capital, water infrastructure interventions such as constructing water pans, psycho-social support, teaching good agricultural practices, safeguarding yields across the value chain, and incorporating regenerative practices in agriculture such as syntropic agroforestry. We leverage behavioral science and human-centered design to inform our capacity-building initiatives, ensuring they are effective and sustainable.
Operating from our headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, our reach extends to the lower eastern region of Kenya as we collaborate with smallholder farmers. By forging strategic partnerships, we adapt global best practices to local contexts, creating resilient, nuanced solutions that positively shape the future for generations to come.
Theory of Change
Sustainable Development Goals
We have the opportunity to contribute closely and greatly to the sustainable improvement of farmers’ lives, advance 5 Sustainable Development Goals and ensure that generations to come feel the snowball effects of our work.
