Resilience for Pastoralist Communities in Northern Kenya

Kenya’s ASAL occupy more than 80 percent of the country’s landmass and are home to over 10 million people. The inhabitants are predominantly (agro-) pastoralists more than 60% of whom live in conditions of abject poverty, subsisting on less than one US dollar per day. Access to basic services (including health, water and education), along with the average dietary intake, are all below the national average. Reinforcing this worrying level of poverty is a cycle of environmental degradation, insecurity, climatic shocks, disease and general despondency.Against this backdrop, the process of devolution of power and resources to counties that started 2 years ago has opened a huge window of opportunities, especially for marginalised ASAL counties.

However, decentralization also entails major challenges. Indeed, counties, which were previously mainly managed by the central government, now need to put in place structures, policies and procedures and have to build staff capacities to govern and deliver good public services. In particular, they have to ensure that the rampant corruption at national level does not gain ground at county level. Counties have already developed County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) and appointed competent people to take up the challenge. However, the implementation of CIDPs still requires tremendous efforts. Among other things, the institutional setup of county institutions has to be reviewed and service delivery improved.

This project, the Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development (K-RAPID), is in line with Switzerland’s Cooperation Strategy Horn of Africa 2013-2016) by contributing to (1) increasing the food security and resilience of dryland communities, (2) improving the health of local populations, and (3) strengthening governance structures at the local, sub-county and county levels. These 3 objectives are also in line with Kenya’s Vision 2030, as well as with regional strategies such as the IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI).

The K-RAPID project will facilitate a process that supports the growth and capacity strengthening of public, civil society, community, and private sector institutions to increase access to water for people and livestock, to put in place a healthy rangeland ecosystem, and to ensure that access to water is both sufficient for these multiple uses, and sustainable over time. Planned as a 5-year, USD 35 million project to contribute to sustainable and resilient livelihoods for communities in the ASALs, K-RAPID offers an interesting partnership opportunity for Switzerland, in order to implement the SDC’s vision for the ASALs.

(Main Credit Phase 1): January 2016