The Arid Lands Information Network/Reseau d’Information des Terres Arides (RITA-ALIN) (hereinafter ALIN) was registered in Kenya in 2001. The history of ALIN, however, dates back to 1987 when Oxfam GB held a workshop in Benin, attended by its staff and partners from 12 countries covering the west and east African Sahel, including Kenya. This led to the formation of ALIN whose purpose was to address the isolation of project officers working to support small-scale agricultural producers across the Sahel (the eco-climatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara Desert to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south). ALIN aimed to promote stronger contact between project officers using appropriate communication materials – principally the newsletter ‘Baobab’- and through face-to-face exchanges and workshops. The organization then facilitated writers’ workshops to increase the confidence of network members in recording their work by producing a series of booklets covering a range of pastoral issues.
