Diverse seeds and planting materials supporting farm resilience, inclusive value chains and healthy diets in a sustainable food system - Quantitative evaluation of community seed bank initiative among indirect beneficiaries in Vihiga County, Kenya (November 2023)

This project adopts a participatory research approach aimed at empowering communities to take collective action for the conservation and utilization of diverse seeds and crops, to ultimately enhance farm and dietary diversity, contributing to improved nutrition, livelihoods, and incomes. The study specifically evaluates the impact of the community seed bank initiative on indirect beneficiaries in Vihiga County. This is to understand the ripple effects of direct beneficiaries' engagement, examining how their actions have positively influenced the outcomes for indirect beneficiaries, i.e. those who have interacted with direct beneficiaries. This population of interest provides a unique opportunity to generate innovative insights into the linkages between community seed banks, improved access to diverse, high-quality seeds, on-farm biodiversity, the availability of nutritious biodiverse foods, and healthier diets among indirect beneficiaries.
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Methodology: A sampling frame was put together by collecting from the direct beneficiaries, the list of all who have had direct contact with them, thereby forming the list of all indirect beneficiaries. A stratified random sampling approach was employed to select respondents from the provided sampling frame. A total of 315 respondents were included in the survey. The random sampling process was facilitated using Microsoft Excel's randomization functions. The survey was administered by a team of six trained enumerators who were familiar with the local context and the objectives of the study. Enumerators were trained within a day to have a good understanding of the questionnaire; the use of the mobile platform for data collection and were responsible for conducting face-to-face interviews with the selected respondents. Prior to the main data collection, 1-day pre-testing phase was conducted to refine the questionnaire and identify potential issues.