Food insecurity continues to plague Kenya's rural arid and semi-arid lands, which are vulnerable to market and climatic shocks. The majority of Kenya's population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture for survival. However, the performance of the agricultural sector has been declining, leading to intermittent acute food shortages necessitating workable sustainable food security interventions. Drawing on open systems theory and on the capability approach to food security, this paper reports on a study that sought to investigate the contribution of community-based organisations (CBOs) and how such institutions can be leveraged by the public sector to achieve sustainable food security in Kenya's rural areas. A sample of 202 respondents was drawn from 40 CBOs in Kenya's Kakuku sub-location, Thika District. The data was collected through household interviews using a structured questionnaire and was analysed using