In western Kenya, youth organising through Farm Labour Solidarity Building is reshaping how communities value agriculture, collective work and indigenous knowledge. Moving from homestead to homestead, young people exchange labour, stories and skills while confronting challenges of monetisation, gender roles and school access. They demonstrate how solidarity-based agroecology can nurture both livelihoods and leadership – especially for young women – while laying the foundation for a more cooperative rural future.
It is the start of the planting season in Mariwa, and the morning sun spreads its rays across Mzee Dola Akomo’s homestead as he chats freely with a group of youth, while his wife and children move between the kitchen and the main house, preparing breakfast. One young man reads out a list of the youths’ names and assigned roles. “Let us begin work and try to be quick since we have guests among us,” says Basil, the Kenyan Peasants League (KPL) Mariwa Cluster Youth Articulation convener, as they disperse to carry out their allocated roles. Meanwhile, a group of nearly 50 youth, some from neighbouring villages and three from the European Coordination of La Via Campesina (ECVC) on an exchange visit, are now cleaning Dola Akomo’s compound.
Youth also learn from elders through oral traditions, including folk songs, about how to perform farm activities
Working exchanges on farms are part of the KPL strategy to engage youth in peasant agroecology early on, aiming to shift their perception of agriculture. These exchanges, called Farm Labour Solidarity Building (FLSB), organise youth to travel together from one homestead to another to train fellow youth in farm tasks such as ploughing, planting, weeding, harvesting, cleaning the compound, cleaning poultry houses, removing cow dung from cow sheds, fetching water, composting, seed selection, house construction, washing clothes and dishes, and more. During FLSB, youth also learn from elders through oral traditions, including folk songs, about how to perform farm activities or use specific tools.
The idea of FLSB was conceived during the KPL Summer School 2024 in response to reports of insufficient farm workers caused by the commodification of labour. Youth were tasked with forming brigades that would initially be voluntary work for them, as they would benefit directly through their family farms. In return, the households hosting the brigades are required only to allow the young people in their homes. In this way, youth from different households organise to provide labour, in contrast to the capitalist system that favours those with more resources. FLSB ensures all participating homesteads have access to farm labour, regardless of financial status, by promoting this collective approach.
The homesteads are selected as follows: all KPL members report on their farm activities and challenges through a survey completed by youth or family members to identify gaps. The reports are reviewed and shared with the Youth Articulation of KPL, which then develops a programme to promote farm labour solidarity. When designing the programme, the youth focus on households led by widows, the elderly, the sick, orphans, single women, those facing financial challenges, or non-members. “We collectively decide on where to go for FLSB, starting with needy homes and alternating boys’ and girls’ homes,” explains Basil.
After about two hours of work, fatigue set in among a group of girls and young women, including Tephy, the KPL Youth Articulation finance staff member, who is also participating in the farm work. She is now standing at the entrance of Mzee Dola Akomo’s homestead, as if to gather more energy while engaging in lively conversations. Tephy is heard saying, “We will have more time to exchange after we finish; we are almost done.” As they approach the final stretch of the day, Tephy says, “The young women take part in deciding where to work next, and they often prioritise homes with girls,” and, “FLSB gave me a voice as a young peasant woman. Apart from providing labour, I also have a right to make decisions on income, which strengthens my struggle against women’s unpaid labour and youth silencing.”
This programme challenges patriarchal inheritance roles – from Mariwa, where girls now breed birds of different poultry species, such as chickens and pigeons to sell, a role that was traditionally held by men – to Nyamaggana, where agriculture is the domain of women, and where boys now go to farms. The FLSB is laying the foundation for a new society rooted in peasant feminism.
Earning dignity with labour points
During the August 2025 KPL Youth Articulation Festival, KPL introduced the Labour Points Scheme, whereby each youth can earn one ‘labour point’ for a day of farm labour, which can be converted into cash for school fees and personal items such as sanitary towels for girls. Labour points worth KES 800,000 (USD 6,200), funded by a grant from Thousand Currents, were redeemed for school fees.
Some young people who participated in FSLB had outstanding fees, resulting in multiple school dismissals and increased truancy. The labour points intervention led to a significant increase in school attendance, helping youth develop technical and academic skills and boost their morale.
Meanwhile, the Mariwa Youth Articulation programme started to operate a poultry project funded with redeemed labour points, in which youth initially purchase one male and one female bird. Once the poultry breeds are chosen, the programme returns chicks to the flock, increasing it and turning it into an asset. This teaches youth important lessons about property ownership.
One of the main challenges we face in the FLSB and Labour Points Scheme is assigning a monetary value to labour points. Typically, once an FLSB programme is developed, youth articulations ask the homesteads to provide an estimated labour cost. Simultaneously, field assessors (community members who provide labour and are familiar with local costs) are dispatched to the designated homesteads to determine the scope of labour required and the current local cost of that labour. This is crucial because some homesteads inflate labour costs, while others underestimate them.
Another challenge is youth dropping out of FLSB due to a lack of funds to support labour points. In the Mariwa Cluster, the number decreased from 45 to 31; in Mulo, from 34 to 19; and in Rabolo, from 27 to 17. This suggests that some youth may participate in FLSB mainly for financial rewards rather than a passion for peasant agroecology.
To address this challenge, KPL consolidated and motivated the remaining youth through special activities such as workshops related to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Peasants & Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) and computer classes. They also raised parents’ awareness of the importance of FLSB. This resulted in a modest increase in participation. Rabolo has recently seen two new homesteads join the movement, while Mariwa has re-engaged five homesteads that had previously dropped out.
What participation challenges taught us
Other challenges affecting FLSB include the long distances between homesteads, which leads to absenteeism, and boarding school schedules that reduce participation during academic terms. Parental disengagement is another obstacle, as some parents who do not fully understand the programme’s value withdraw their children or prioritise household chores and duties over FSLB activities. Additionally, the attendance of some youth from non-KPL homesteads creates logistical challenges.
To address these issues, we adopted targeted solutions: relocating sessions to accessible locations near participants’ homes and scheduling activities around weekends and school holidays, aligned with seasonal calendars, while conducting direct engagement with parents about the programme’s benefits.
From this, we learn that programmes should prioritise proximity and schedule for flexibility, and that centralised meeting points help reduce travel barriers. Gaining parental support should also be part of the initial outreach through community sensitisation, framing the programme as complementary to household responsibilities. Clear eligibility criteria must be established to manage participation from outside the target community while remaining inclusive.
Where shared labour becomes shared future
As the youth leaders look ahead to food co-operatives, coupons and new forms of exchange, the heart of FLSB remains unchanged: young people choosing solidarity over scarcity and learning over isolation. What begins as shared labour in a homestead grows into shared voice, shared knowledge and shared responsibility for land and community. In Mariwa and beyond, young people participating in these exchanges are not only planting crops – they are cultivating a generation that sees agroecology, cooperation, and dignity as inseparable parts of their future.
They are cultivating a generation that sees agroecology, cooperation, and dignity as inseparable parts of their future
Tephy and a group of young women and girls join the rest under the mango tree at Mzee Dola’s homestead, where informal exchanges continue as breakfast is served. This is a tradition after FLSB. During such sessions at Mzee Okundi’s homestead, the youth learn about rare herbs, their names and the ailments they treat. Various skills and indigenous knowledge are often shared during these informal gatherings, highlighting the importance of the FLSB in expanding opportunities for teaching agroecology.
After the day’s work, the youth return to their homesteads to freshen up, while the youth articulation leaders, including Tephy and Basil, are seen walking towards the office. We join them for the walk and ask, “How do you envisage FLSB in five years?” They reply, “We are looking at integrating the FLSB with the KPL food co-operatives. FLSB can ensure a steady supply of indigenous foods within the food co-op market,” says Tephy. Basil adds, “We plan to introduce a coupon that can be exchanged for goods and other services in the food co-op market to replace the valuation of labour points in monetary terms.” Tephy nods and concludes: “We are calling upon other movements globally to consider engaging their youth in FLSB, and we are open to training them.”
Authors: David Otieno (49) is a peasant food producer and a member of the Kenyan Peasants League (KPL) where he serves as policy advisor and editor-in-chief of the Press Team. Clifford Ochieng (25) is a smallholder food producer, a member of the KPL Press Team, and a member of the Rabolo cluster of the Kenyan Peasants League. Ryan Maxwell (21) is a final-year agricultural science student from the University of Nairobi and an advocate with KPL, elevating youth perspectives in the food sovereignty movement. Contact: kenyanpeasantsleague@gmail.com
This article is part of Issue 4-2026: Youth leading the way in agroecology.
