The Lodwar Tannery was initiated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Kenya, in partnership with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) with the objective of building community resilience to drought through alternative livelihoods. The project was community managed and operated the tannery with most processing being done manually. UNDP invested a total of KES 20,000,000 (USD 2,000,000) in a building structure, equipment and training. After the initial phase, the Turkana County Government, through the County Ministry of Pastoral Economy joined the partnership and further invested KES 19,000,000 (USD 190,000) in additional building block and equipment. Hides and skins are easily available. However, in the past, herders have made very little from the sale. The tannery promises to increase their income through value addition. The tannery will also provide employment opportunities for the youth from around the area. The tannery will operate as a commercial entity dealing in leather value chain. This will involve: collection, purchase and transportation of hides and skin from the entire Turkana County; grading and selection of hide and skin; tanning hide and skin into leather; production of leather goods; branding and marketing of manufactured leather goods and supply of surplus processed leather to other manufacturers. While a raw goat hide is sold at KES 150, the tanning process is expected to add its value to KES 2000.00 and with production of leather goods, the process will increase the value of the leather from KES 2000.00 to an approximately KSH 5000.00 (per goat skin). Some of the products made at the tannery workshop include; key holders, leather shoes, bags, belts and table mats.
