About the campaign

• This campaign represents the 6th iteration in the series dedicated to providing anticipatory cash transfers to Kenyan pastoralists which are disproportionately affected by climate-change-induced drought.
  
  

  Context

  Pastoral communities live a nomadic lifestyle, moving with their herds across open rangelands in search of pasture and water. Livestock and livestock products serve as their primary sources of food and income.
  
  However, changing weather patterns induced by climate change are threatening the livelihoods of these communities. Over the past decade, Kenya has experienced severe droughts which have decimated the pastoralists' livestock and put the pastoral communities at risk of starvation.
  
  Kenya's climate naturally fluctuates between rainy and dry seasons. The long rains season (MAM) begins in mid-March and lasts until May/June, followed by a predominantly dry period until October, during which vegetation levels gradually decline. The short rains (OND) arrive in mid-October and continue through November and December, leading into a hot, typically rainless dry season lasting until March. Together, the two rainy seasons account for 70–90% of Kenya's annual rainfall.
  
  Rainfall during the rainy season stimulates vegetation growth, which provides necessary pasture for livestock in the coming dry season. Consequently, sufficient vegetation and fodder build-up during the rainy season are crucial. They allow livestock to recover from the preceding dry period and build reserves needed to survive the next one. This directly impacts the livelihoods and wellbeing of pastoral communities who depend on their herds.

Campaign goal

• The goal of this campaign is to assess vegetation health using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at nine checkpoints (every 10 days) during the Oct-Dec 2025 short rains season and disburse funds to participating pastoralists if the NDVI at any of these checkpoints the satellite data suggests insufficient vegetation. The maximum cover amount of $75 per pastoralist intends to subsidize the provision of food for one livestock animal over a period of six months.
  
  The campaign goals are summarized below:

• 517 Pastoralists
• $75 Maximum target cover amount per pastoralist ($8.30 per checkpoint)
• $37,000 total cover for the campaign

Partners

• This campaign takes place in partnership with Ripple and utilizes their stablecoin RLUSD, demonstrating its applicability in humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Ripple has generously contributed $25,000 to support this campaign. Additionally, approximately $12,000 which remained unreleased in previous campaigns (funds received from Mercy Corps Ventures and Arbitrum) have been rolled into this campaign to further amplify the impact.

• Selected pastoralists in the Kenyan County of Laikipia (North).

The pasture condition is assessed using an indicator called NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index). The NDVI is a widely-used metric for quantifying the health and density of vegetation using sensor data. It serves as a reasonable metric for assessing drought as vegetation density generally correlates with rainfall patterns.

For this campaign, the NDVI within the eVIIRS dataset, as published on the USGS FEWS NET Early Warning System website, will be used. This dataset offers a smoothed NDVI timeseries that corrects low-quality observations caused by clouds or other atmospheric contamination. These values will be reported via the DIVA Donate Multisig following the nine checkpoint dates.

Payouts to pastoralists are determined based on the NDVI values measured on each checkpoint date. If the NDVI value is below 0.55, 100% of the funds associated with the checkpoint (1/9th of overall contributions) will be disbursed. No payouts will be made if the NDVI is at or above 0.55. For technical reasons, the reported NDVI will be shifted by +1.

For details on the derivation of the threshold as well as the checkpoint dates, see our blog post.