The Horn of Africa Gateway Development Project (HoAGDP) is rewriting the story of Northern Kenya.
Funded by the World Bank and supervised by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the ambitious project is transforming the 764-kilometer Isiolo–Mandera Regional Road Corridor into a lifeline of trade, opportunity, and connectivity.
But this is not just about roads. Alongside the tarmac, fiber optic cables are being laid to connect the region to the digital economy.
Schools are being built to bring education closer to children. Roadside markets, milk coolers, and veterinary posts are springing up, investments that promise to strengthen livelihoods and unlock the region’s economic potential.
While construction continues, the impact is already being felt. With every kilometer completed, trade is getting faster, travel safer, and regional ties stronger.
Local jobs are being created, youth are gaining new skills, farmers are finding wider markets, and small businesses are opening their doors. For children, safer roads mean safer journeys to school.
At the heart of this transformation is the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC), which carries a unique mandate: ensuring that communities are not only beneficiaries of the project but co-creators.
Through extensive outreach, sensitization, and consultation, FCDC ensures that the voices of pastoralists, women, youth, and vulnerable groups are heard, respected, and integrated into project design and delivery.
By bringing together political leaders, elders, grassroots groups, civil society, and county officials, FCDC guarantees that this development is not imposed from outside but driven by the people it serves.
Communities see their input reflected in decisions, making the HoAGDP their own project.
As the corridor takes shape, the promise of a new horizon grows clearer. The dust will settle, and in its place will rise a gateway to dignity, opportunity, and hope for Northern Kenya.
