Community Participation and the Integration of Agroecosystem Health and Sustainability Concerns into Practical Decision Making - Integrated Assessment of Health and Sustainability of Agroecosystems - page 82

table 3.10
strategies used to cope with Human diseases, Kiambu district, Kenya, 1997

strategy Githima Gitangu Kiawamagira mahindi Gikabu thiririka

Consulting a doctor X X X X X X

Consulting a herbalist X

Using herbs/ traditional
remedies

X X X X

Using over-the-counter
medicine

X

Avoiding drinking
polluted water

X

Improving hygiene X

Boiling water before
drinking

X

Vaccination X

Improved nutrition X

were lack of artificial insemination services associated with poor state of roads, low
crop yields, poor soil productivity, lack of markets, lack of extension services, and
crop and animal diseases.

3.3.3.2 Preference Ranking and action Planning

Based on their initial agroecosystem health diagnosis, communities developed action
plans and the organizational structures to carry these out. The action plans devel-
oped by the six ISSs are summarized in Table 3.12.

3.3.4 f o l l o w -u p

3.3.4.1 collective action

At the end of the initial village workshops, all communities expressed a profound
demand for action to ameliorate the problems identified. Formation of the village
committees was evidence of their desire to implement the action plans. Five of the
six villages proceeded with implementation of the action plans immediately after the
workshops, mostly without further contact or consultation with the research team. In
nearly all the cases, this led to some degree of frustration on the part of the commu-
nities as they were ill-prepared in terms of organization and community leadership
to carry out many of the tasks. However, there were some successes and failures, and
frustration did not deter most of the communities from continuing to try.

3.3.4.2 Reflection and Replanning

Table 3.13 shows the list of revised action plans and the progress in their implemen-
tation from 1997 to 2000. Githima village revised its action plans to begin with road