Scroll down to view all our Projects (Solar, Agriculture, Anchor Farm development, Climate-Smart building)

A Call to Light: the Solar Solution

Embracing Solar Energy for Catholic Institutions, Missions and Parishes

Moral & Environmental Responsibility: SIFA has networks across the over 1,000 Catholic Church parishes across Kenya. Our goal is to solarize the parishes and the church institutions and missions this Jubilee Year 2025.

Affordable Energy for All: Solar Power serves as a crucial lifeline for poor communities by providing affordable and reliable lighting and energy, enabling access to essential services like healthcare, water, and education.

Empowerment through Self-Sufficiency: Solar energy fosters local economic growth, creates jobs and builds resilience in regions where grid infrastructure is unreliable or unavailable.

A Shining Example of Sustainability: By embracing solar power, Catholic missions and institutions demonstrate leadership and solidarity with vulnerable populations and contribute to the regeneration of Africa and a more sustainable world.

How the SIFA Solar Program Works

SIFA partners with parishes and institutions to facilitate their transition to solar, and also responds to direct interest from organizations.

2. SIFA contracted solar power companies perform an energy survey (power consumption audit).

3. SIFA and its contracted companies present the results of the survey together with the Proposal for Solar Installation.

4. SIFA presents suitable financing solutions for the solar installation.

Financing Objective: To match - as closely as possible - the monthly repayments for the solar loan with the current KPLC monthly bills, for the duration of the financing (ranging from 5 to 7 years).

5. Financing and other contractual agreements are signed between the financier, the client, the contractor and SIFA.

6. SIFA-contracted solar companies install the high-grade solar system with long-term manufacturers' warranties as per the survey and installation proposal.

7. Solar companies provide service and maintenance as per the contracts.

8. Solar companies train technicians identified by parishes and institutions to be part of the long-term service and maintenance crews.

Making Solar Affordable: Financial Innovation Meets Faith-Based Impact

To ensure widespread adoption, we arerolling out a sustainable and accessible financing model, developed in collaboration with our trusted financial partners:

✅ Zero upfront cost for institutions
✅ Monthly repayment plans matched to - or lower than - their existing KPLC bills
✅ Systems paid off gradually over time, with guaranteed savings from Day 1

The Agribiz Journey:

From Pilot to Scalable Impact

Laying the Groundwork for Scalable Transformation:

Agriculture Value-chains

In early 2023, prior to the formal registration of SIFA MILELE AFRICA, our founding team initiated a bold pilot phase across six smallholder farms in Makueni County. These pilot sites focused on high-value horticultural crops such as onions, cabbages, and tomatoes. Our goal was to address the most pressing barriers faced by smallholders: poor access to quality inputs, limited agronomic expertise, insufficient working capital, and unreliable markets.

Through multiple sensitization and mindset-change meetings, we began pilots in Makueni and Tharaka Nithi.

These initial farms were supported with a comprehensive blend of interventions — access to quality inputs, agronomic training, working capital support, and close monitoring throughout the farming cycle. Farmers cultivated high-value horticultural crops including onions, tomatoes, and cabbages.

We addressed the structural barriers that smallholders face by partnering with organizations through whom we provided:

Certified seeds, fertilizers and pesticides
Technical agronomy knowledge
Financing for inputs
Market access

Beyond production, we facilitated post-harvest handling, aggregation, and direct market linkage, enabling farmers to bypass middlemen and fetch better prices. These interventions provided critical evidence that smallholders could thrive when supported across the entire farming value chain.

This pilot marked the first validation of our end-to-end support model, from financing and inputs to technical guidance and market access. We gained critical insights that shaped the development of our Anchor Farm Model, which we are establishing at different sites in the country.

Harvest and Delivery Logistics Operations for the Smallholder Pilot Program.

The Konza Anchor Farm: Launchpad of a Transformational Vision

Work has begun at our soon-to-be Centre of Excellence Demo Farm in Konza, Makueni County - the flagship Anchor Model Farm that embodies SIFA’s vision for integrated, climate-smart, smallholder-focused agri-enterprise.

This 10-acre Anchor Farm will serve as a living blueprint for rural transformation: where regenerative, chemical-free agriculture, clean energy, and cottage value addition come together to drive productivity, dignity, and self-reliance for farmers.

We’ve already broken ground, transforming this virgin bushland into arable land and will soon be implementing the first 2-acre phase focused on:

Agri infrastructure: borehole water, drip irrigation, solar-powered systems, and cottage-level processing sheds
High-potential, fast-turnover enterprises like mushrooms, African Indigenous Vegetables, and beans.
Low-volume livestock: rabbits, piglets, sheep - reared under structured support with feed grown on-site.

Our Vision for the Full Site

Over time, Konza will evolve into a fully-fledged Anchor Farm and Training Hub, with:

💧Full-site irrigation and water storage for year-round cultivation

🧑🏽‍🌾 Hands-on training for smallholders and agribusiness for youth

🌳 Moringa agroforestry and tree nurseries to boost ecology and income

🐖 Expanded livestock programs, including pigs, sheep, and on-farm feed production

🧺 Processing units for mushrooms, rabbit/mutton/pork meat processing & packaging, and vegetable value addition (drying and packing).

♻️ Organic fertilizer and bio-waste processing for circular sustainability

Konza is the launchpad that will enable replication across the country and eventually across Sub-Saharan Africa, through our faith-based and institutional networks.

We invite partners and funders to join us at the ground level - as we build a model that redefines what’s possible for smallholders, one acre at a time.

Climate-Smart Building: Sustainable Infrastructure

We have made a conscious choice to build sustainably from the ground up. One of our most strategic innovations has been the use of interlocking stabilized soil blocks (ISSBs) for all on-site construction.

These eco-friendly bricks are made from compressed soil mixed with a stabilizer like cement, eliminating the need for energy-intensive kiln firing and sparing our environment from deforestation and carbon emissions.

Key advantages of Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks

No burning, no tree-cutting: Reduces deforestation and environmental degradation
High thermal efficiency: Keeps structures cool in hot regions like Makueni and Kitui
Low construction cost: Ideal for affordable, durable buildings in rural areas
Strong and long-lasting: Suitable for homes, farmhouses, classrooms, stores, offices, and more

At Konza, we are planning to use interlocking stabilized soil blocks for all on-site construction: site house and office block, workers housing, livestock sheds (for rabbits, pigs, sheep), food processing and storage units, training classrooms and demonstration spaces.

By investing in this eco-building, we are not only reducing the environmental impact of our infrastructure, we are also transforming local brickmakers into environmental conservationists, and supporting local masons and youth apprentices, laying the foundation for dignified rural employment and skill transfer in the construction sector.

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