This paper gives an historical analysis of the soil and water conservation activities in Kenya, introduces
the national soil and water conservation project and then gives an insight in to the National Agriculture and
Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP), which was designed after several previous projects failed to address the
sustainability of such development projects leading to progressive decline in soil fertility and agricultural output.
The achievements and challenges faced while implementing the programme activities are also discussed. The
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general project information was gathered from the various policy documents, programme documents and workshop
reports while the achievements and challenges were drawn as a result of the involvement of two of the authors in
the programme activities in 45 focal areas that have been implementing it since inception. The strong stakeholder
involvement in all the stages of project development is the basis of the anticipated sustainability. The synergy
between the key stakeholders is necessary for a sustainable development programme. Activities which involved the
farmers, Government staff, and other development partners were found to be more successful than those that
involved only one institution. NALEP framework is worth being replicated in any development project in the
country. Scaling-up and replication of the success cases is recommended to improve the general household food
security, economic empowerment and environmental conservation. This is the first paper analyzing the soil and
water conservation, NALEP and its sustainability measures. The stakeholders could use the information to improve
the programme. [Journal of American Science 2010;6(3):7-15]. (ISSN: 1545-1003).