The Year in Review: The Milk to Market Program

Milk Mamas en route to the Milk Market. Photo by Simon Pocock.

Our Milk to Market program continued to grow from strength to strength this year and the enterprising Milk Mamas are at the heart of its growth and success! Supplying fresh goat milk to Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, they are ensuring their economic development and independence – while creating a positive ripple effect throughout the conservancy with every drop.

In 2023 the Milk to Market program expanded from 750 to 1,000 indigenous Samburu women and an intrepid team of motorbike drivers joined the program who shuttle the milk to Reteti safely and on time.

It’s hard to believe that when the project started in 2021, it involved only one village, with a daily collection of 160 litres of milk. Now, it encompasses nine villages across Namunyak, with 511 litres of milk sold per day!

Apart from providing the elephants with locally sourced goat milk and allowing each Milk Mama to earn an income for the first time, the program also supports the rehabilitation of the conservancy’s rangelands – the very landscape to which these orphans will ultimately return. In the past year, 1,600 bunds have been dug, 100 acres of indigenous grass banks were reseeded, and 10 beehives were installed to improve biodiversity! Read about how the Mamas magical work with manure, here.

Ongoing support for the Milk Mamas includes everything from monthly workshops to weekly training and daily meetings with each village. Learning more about saving, record keeping, personal finance management, and more, these inspiring women keep building on their success. The very first training group from Lbaa manyatta did everyone proud – with their savings this year totalling more than 300,000 shillings! Read our blog on the Mamas’ microfinance training here.

Milk Mamas from Lbaa Manyatta. Photo by Simon Pocock.

We are both humbled and proud of this program’s incredible journey over the past two and a half years. Increasingly benefiting Namunyak’s community, wildlife, and magnificent landscape, its operations have also expanded in so many ways. From initially heating the milk over a fire to be pasteurised, we now have two industrial-sized pasteurisers, a cooler, and solar power to operate the machinery too!

Ashe oleng to each of our Milk Mamas – for everything you teach us, and for all you have done!