The Government of Turkana County is proud to announce the coming of the 4th edition of the Turkana County Cultural & Toursim Festival, which is to be celebrated from 19th-21st of April, 2018 at Ekalees Centre, Lodwar, Kenya.
Tobong’u lore – Welcome back Home!
TOBONG’U LORE 2016 – WELCOME BACK HOME HOME
Turkana County is organizing a four day Turkana Cultural & Tourism Festival from 24th to 27th August 2016 in Lodwar with the theme “Celebrating Culture for sustainable peace and development.”
We will be Celebrating our rich cultural heritage which ranges from traditional dances, traditional regalia, songs, foods, lifestyle to the hospitality of the Turkana people. This is a great opportunity to sample Turkana County’s hidden treasures – the tourist attractions!
The Festival will bring together people, amongst them celebrities and dignitaries from all over the Country and even from the neighboring countries of South Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda.
The Festival will allow the participants to appreciate the cultural heritage and the geographical positioning of Turkana County and the opportunities it offers.
Turkana County government has earmarked promotion of Culture as a flagship project. This Festival will therefore create a platform to bring out the socio-economic importance of culture for the benefit of the Turkana people.There will be excursions to the virgin beaches of Lake Turkana and archeological pilgrimages to the Turkana boy monument, Turkana Basin Institute and to other tourist attractions.
For more information, please send an email to: tobongulore@gmail.com or call: +254 (0)710 487 617, +254 (0)725 307 431, +254 (0)0729 742 048
A newsletter by the Northern Rangeland Trust announces great developments for the creation of Community Conservancies in the southern part of Turkana Land:
Tullow Oil and Africa Oil have entered into a five-year grant agreement with the Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT) that will support communities in Turkana and West Pokot Counties to establish and operate six community conservancies. These conservancies will aim to transform lives, secure peace and conserve natural resources.
(Isiolo – Kenya) – The pastoralist communities of Turkana and Pokot live in one of the toughest environments in the region. In the semi-arid landscape of Kenya’s northwest, infrastructure is poorly developed, delivery of education and health services is challenging, and a lack of reliable water sources limits opportunities. However, major new economic projects, including the potential commercialisation of oil resources, the Northern Corridor Project and LAPPSET are on the horizon. Helping communities to understand and benefit from the impacts these will have, build the resilience they need to cope with change, and integrate traditional livelihoods with the mainstream Kenyan economy will be the key to ensuring prosperity. This is what the partnership between the Northern Rangelands Trust, Tullow Oil and Africa Oil aims to achieve, through the establishment of community conservancies.
The community conservancies Lokichar, Lochakula, Katilu and Kainuk in Turkana County, and Masol and Pellow in West Pokot County, are expected to help communities living in these areas, to better manage their natural resources, to tackle insecurity, to build upon their livestock-based livelihoods, to engage with and benefit from pending changes and through this process promote integrated development. The conservancies will do this through promoting sustainable land management and wildlife conservation, developing security and peace-making programmes and offering alternative livelihoods for pastoralists. The conservancies are also expected to create around 180 jobs, through the local recruitment of conservancy management staff and rangers.
“This agreement is part of Tullow’s commitment aimed at ensuring that the oil and gas sector brings real and long lasting benefits to host communities where we operate and that the impacts of oil development are adequately managed.”, said Martin Mbogo, the Tullow Kenya country manager.
As part of the grant agreement, NRT will train locally elected conservancy board members, conduct workshops on conservancy management, engage community members in peace building, and develop community enterprises. Currently NRT is helping communities across northern Kenya manage 27 conservancies, to run effective community institutions, to practice rangeland management in over 1.8 million hectares, to improve security and build peace, and to develop markets and conserve wildlife. NRT will bring these experiences to local communities living in Turkana and West Pokot.
“Livestock raiding may limit access to grazing lands and thereby increase vulnerability during critical periods. Similarly, competition for natural resources, especially grazing lands, is a key source of insecurity in Turkana and West Pokot. As such the establishment and operation of community conservancies to promote peace, manage the rangelands, explore alternative markets for livestock and promote diversification of livelihood activities will help improve lives!”, said Dr Mike Harrison, NRT’s CEO.
To find out more, and see FAQs relating to this story, visit www.nrt-kenya.org/nrfaqs
BACKGROUND INFO:
Northern Rangelands Trust
The Northern Rangelands Trust is an umbrella organisation that aims to establish resilient community conservancies that transform lives, secure peace, and conserve natural resources. There are now 27 NRT-member community conservancies across northern and coastal Kenya, home to over 300,000 people who are managing over 31,000 square kilometres of land and safeguarding a wide range of species and habitats. NRT is now widely seen as a model of how to support community conservancies, and its success has helped shape new government regulations on establishing, registering and managing community conservancies in Kenya. www.nrt-kenya.org
Tullow Oil
Tullow Oil is Africa’s leading independent oil and gas exploration and production company with over 120 licences spanning 22 countries including Kenya where it has been searching for oil since 2011. In total, Tullow’s license acreage in Kenya cover over 300, 000 square km divided which are divided into five oil blocks; 10BA, 10BB, 13T 12A, 12B and 13T spread across Western Kenya and along the country’s South rift. Tullow and its partner African Oil have discovered over 600 million barrels of oil with potentially much more still undiscovered. www.tullowoil.com
Save the date of the Turkana Trade Fair and Investment Conference held in Lodwar, Turkana County from 5th-7th of November 2015!
It is with great pleasure that the Ministry of Tourism, Trade & Industrialization, Turkana County announces the coming of the “Turkana County Trade Fair and Investors Conference”, to be held from 5th – 7th November 2015 at Ekalees Center, Lodwar.
The forum will showcase Turkana’s promising investments opportunities and the potential for mutually benefiting partnerships in the energy, finance, infrastructure and housing sector, as well as in agriculture, fisheries, tourism and cross border trade. Furthermore, Kenyan and global stakeholders and investors will be enabled to attend rewarding discussions and meet respective decision makers from National Government, County Government and business organizations.
More details will be released soon. If you wish to receive update information, send an empty email with Re: Turkana Trade Fair and Investment Conference to info@turkanaconference.co.ke or visit the brand new Turkana Investment’s Conference website www.turkanaconference.co.ke.
Get a preview of the brand new Tourist Map of Turkana Land here! Get your hard copy at the Turkana Tourism and Cultural Festival, which is taking place from 27th-30th of August in Lodwar.
A newly installed ‘Partner’ webpage on www.visitturkanaland.com appreciates the continued support by various companies and organizations for the 2nd Turkana Tourism and Cultural Festival which kicks off on Thursday, the 27th of August, 2015 in Lodwar.
Copyright of the Turkana Land Brand, Logo and Slogan: Turkana County Government, 2013-2018. Copyright of Photographs, unless otherwise stated: www.hardyfiebig.com, 2013-2018. Copyright of Website Design and Content: The 50 Treasures of Kenya Trust, 2013-2018. All rights reserved.