An independent evaluation of Siemenpuu Foundation’s programme 2022-2025 in Kenya shows that the programme has contributed to tangible and sustainable results. The evaluation findings confirm that the Kenya Programme was relevant in its targeting of marginalised indigenous groups, in its responsiveness to the needs and priorities of Indigenous Peoples, and in its focus on addressing the implementation gaps of the existing legal and policy frameworks.
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In Kenya, Siemenpuu’s funding aims at strengthening the realisation of biocultural rights of indigenous communities. In 2022–2025, Siemenpuu funded 11 projects that were planned and implemented by Kenyan Indigenous Peoples organisations (with funding ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 euros per project, altogether 636,622 euros). Ten of the projects were selected through an open call for proposals published in early 2022, and one project resulted from a direct invitation issued at the end of 2024 for a collaborative project between several Kenyan partners.
The evaluation provides useful information on the programme’s successes to date, as well as some areas for improvement. Siemenpuu welcomes the recommendations made, as they provide guidance on how we can further improve our operations, increase the programme’s impact and reach communities better.
The evaluation findings show that the programme was effective in contributing to tangible and sustainable community-level results, alongside other actors and funders, particularly through the development and use of biocultural protocols (BCPs) to protect Indigenous Peoples rights. Eight partners produced new or substantially revised BCPs, as well as non-BCP biocultural documentation. The BCPs were practical instruments for advocacy, negotiation, protection, and engagement with duty bearers. The programme also contributed to securing land rights and protecting ancestral and sacred sites. These changes are embedded within community structures and can therefore continue beyond programme support. Partners capacity increased, and key community members were trained in all target communities, ensuring that knowledge and skills remain within the communities.
The BCP process also contributed to strengthening community participation, including greater involvement of women and youth and, to some extent, people with disabilities. However, increased participation did not yet translate into substantive influence over customary decision-making processes by women and youth. Disability inclusion was also weaker than expected. CSO networking was strengthened through building trust and learning. This is likely to continue but depends on continued collaboration and learning.
Partner selection was successful, but more support needed
The evaluation found the selection of local partners being a key strength of Siemenpuu’s grant-making model. The deliberate programme design undertaken before the call for applications helped ensure that funding priorities and partner selection were aligned with the Kenyan context and intended changes. Feedback from partners indicated that the selection criteria were favourable to small and local organisations that are close to indigenous communities, including less visible organisations often overlooked by mainstream donors. Importantly, partners reported that the selection criteria recognised community legitimacy, indigenous knowledge and local accountability as important strengths alongside formal organisational capacity. This contributed to locally relevant project delivery and strengthened community ownership.
Regarding organisational and institutional capacity, the evaluation found that Siemenpuu’s contribution to organisational strengthening was more uneven than its contribution to technical capacity. While some partners strengthened financial management, and project performance reporting systems were supported for all partners, systematic support for improving Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), governance and fundraising practices remained limited or inconsistent. There is a need to further develop a proportionate, risk-based due-diligence and grant-management guidelines appropriate to smaller and emerging organisations, combining accessible requirements with stronger accompaniment where organisational systems are still developing.
Siemenpuu’s 2022–2025 Kenya Programme was relatively small compared with some other donors operating in the Indigenous Peoples’ rights sector. The evaluation found that the programme’s contribution was significant and distinctive relative to the size of its funding. This was largely because Siemenpuu deliberately reached small, grassroots and often underfunded indigenous organisations that are less likely to receive direct support from larger donors. For several partners and communities, the funding was described as timely and, in some cases, the only external funding available.
The evaluation supports the strategy choices developed with earlier self-assessments for the development of the Siemenpuu programme in Kenya. Some of the recommendations from the evaluation are already being actively incorporated into the development work. Based on discussions with the partners of the 2022–2025 programme, Siemenpuu has in 2026 invited three joint project proposals (each with several indigenous organisations) from Kenya. In the joint projects, Siemenpuu will support the partners in equitable governance and deliberate defining of different partner roles, resource-sharing and decision-making arrangements.
The evaluation generated insights that are relevant beyond Kenya and can inform Siemenpuu’s broader development cooperation programme, theory of change and the grant management practices. One key recommendation is to move beyond participation figures and develop qualitative indicators that measure women’s substantive influence in community governance and decision-making as well as in the inclusion of people with disabilities, youth and other under-represented groups. Women, youth and PWDs are engaged as participants and beneficiaries — an important step, but not yet equal influence. Aim to improve the influence sets an important challenge for Siemenpuu’s future programme development as a funder of community initiatives in Kenya and other countries.