History & Experience
KENDAT was founded as The Kenya Network for Draught Animal Technology (KENDAT) in 1992. The aim was to form an organization that would merge efforts with others in the Eastern and Southern Africa region towards promoting sustainable development of otherwise neglected but traditional, draft animal power. Indeed, those that came together with a justified and poverty fighting vision saw animal power as an economically viable, technologically feasible and socially acceptable technology for African countries.
KENDAT was founded as a network of Kenyan individual practitioners, community groups, NGOs, institutions of higher learning and development supporters. The overarching development scene was a response to a United Nations call on advancing New and Renewable Resources, a theme of an international conference that had closed in Nairobi much earlier in August 1981. Draft animal technologies (DAT) were part of several identified means towards poverty alleviation. Such would enhance agricultural productivity and ease transport operations amongst smallholder farming communities, for accelerated national development.
In 2005, KENDAT re-defined her mission and vision under a new and wider mandate. KENDAT advanced beyond animal power promotion taking on the broader agricultural and rural development activity scope, under the new name: Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT). As part of this milestone change, KENDAT changed from a company limited by Guarantee (which was wound-up) and was re-registered as a non-governmental organization (NGO) under the Office of the President, with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
KENDAT has since led and partnered in implementing numerous applied research and farmer advancement programmes and projects. These have seen development and policy players focus on rural development with a keener eye and a more effective hand at improving the livelihoods of the resource poor in rural and peri-urban communities. Over the years KENDAT has played a significant role in promoting technologies around draft animal power and the welfare of working animals, more so donkeys. KENDAT has created landmark efforts in advancing community based efforts towards happy and efficient working donkeys for Kenya and beyond. KENDAT today is a well-known and deeply grounded friend of over 1 million beneficiaries, in form of farmers, other rural development entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and supporters.
