Climate-Smart Livelihoods & Resilience Initiative (CLRI)

The Climate-Smart Livelihoods & Resilience Initiative (CLRI) is SCRUDE’s flagship program designed to strengthen household resilience, improve food security, and enhance income stability among women-led and climate-vulnerable communities.

CLRI responds to the interconnected challenges of climate variability, declining agricultural productivity, limited livelihood diversification, and economic vulnerability affecting rural and peri-urban households.

Program Rationale

Many households in rural Kenya face persistent shocks arising from climate change, unpredictable rainfall patterns, rising production costs, and constrained economic opportunities. These pressures disproportionately affect women-led households, smallholder farmers, and youth, increasing vulnerability to poverty and food insecurity.

CLRI provides an integrated yet focused framework that equips communities with practical skills, adaptive strategies, and sustainable livelihood pathways.

Program Goal

To build climate-resilient and economically empowered households capable of sustaining food security, diversified incomes, and adaptive livelihoods.

Core Objectives

CLRI seeks to improve household-level resilience by strengthening climate-smart production systems, promoting livelihood diversification, enhancing women’s economic participation, and supporting sustainable resource management.

How the CLRI Model Works

CLRI is implemented through a structured, scalable delivery model designed for replication across counties and communities.

1️⃣ Community Engagement & Mobilization

SCRUDE begins by engaging local leaders, women’s groups, youth groups, and community stakeholders. Participatory assessments are conducted to understand livelihood systems, climate risks, resource constraints, and priority needs.

This stage builds trust, ownership, and program relevance.

2️⃣ Household & Group Targeting

Beneficiaries are selected using vulnerability-informed criteria, prioritizing women-led households, smallholder farmers, and youth facing economic or climate-related challenges.

SCRUDE works through organized groups where possible to enhance peer learning and sustainability.

3️⃣ Capacity Building & Skills Transfer

Participants receive practical training tailored to local contexts, including:

Climate-smart agriculture
Kitchen gardening & nutrition-sensitive production
Water-efficient practices
Livelihood diversification
Entrepreneurship & financial literacy

Training emphasizes hands-on learning and locally adaptable solutions.

4️⃣ Demonstration & Practical Application

SCRUDE supports the translation of knowledge into action through demonstration activities, technical guidance, and limited starter inputs where applicable. Beneficiaries apply improved practices within their farms, gardens, or enterprises.

5️⃣ Livelihood Diversification Support

CLRI promotes income resilience by encouraging households to diversify beyond single-source livelihoods. This may include small enterprises, value addition, agribusiness opportunities, or climate-adaptive activities.

6️⃣ Market & Opportunity Linkages

Where feasible, SCRUDE facilitates connections to markets, local value chains, financial services, and partnership opportunities that enhance sustainability and income potential.

7️⃣ Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning

SCRUDE tracks outcomes related to:

Household food security
Income improvements
Adoption of climate-smart practices
Women & youth participation
Resilience indicators

Lessons inform adaptive programming and scalability.

Key Intervention Areas

CLRI integrates four reinforcing pillars:

Climate-Smart Production
Improved agricultural and food production practices that enhance sustainability and adaptation.

Livelihood Diversification
Expanded income opportunities to reduce economic vulnerability.

Women & Youth Empowerment
Strengthening participation, skills, and financial resilience.

Climate & Resource Resilience
Water management, environmental stewardship, and adaptation capacity.

Expected Outcomes

CLRI contributes to:

Improved household food security
Enhanced income stability
Strengthened climate adaptation capacity
Increased women’s economic participation
Diversified livelihood systems
Greater community resilience

Scalability of the Model

CLRI is designed as a replicable Community Resilience Package, allowing SCRUDE to scale interventions by targeting defined household groups across multiple counties.

The standardized framework ensures consistency, cost-efficiency, and measurable impact.

SDG Contribution

CLRI directly supports:

SDG 1 – No Poverty
SDG 2 – Zero Hunger
SDG 5 – Gender Equality
SDG 8 – Decent Work & Economic Growth
SDG 13 – Climate Action