ABSTRACT
The Resilience Umbrella conceptual tool is a contribution to scholarly debate, scientific discovery and agricultural policy analysis, insofar as it illuminates distinct sites of social change within the constituent elements of the farming system, and therein enquires into social and ecological dynamics and direction of change. In the counties of Machakos, Makueni and Tharaka-Nithi, majority of farmers are small-scale and subsistence-oriented. This chapter proposes food security resilience is constituted by the coordinated operations of socially and ecologically resilient livelihood activities, policies, natural and social resources and mechanisms for equitable access. The Innovating for Resilient Farming Systems (INREF) projects practical and action-oriented development research resulted in significant gains in gender equity and strides towards food security resilience by farmers participating in the project. The chapter considers some of these results, in particular with reference to the character of the social relations of access, resource use, livelihoods, and policies.
