APPENDIX 3. KENYA COUNTRY REPORT

3.1.

CURRENT TARGETING SYSTEMS

3.1.a.

Food aid in Kenya (background)

Figure  7  reflects Kenya's recurrent food problems during this decade, with development,

emergency and refugee/ displaced aid all being significant in crisis periods.  The major drought 

related crisis of

Figure 7:  Kenya ~ WFP food aid by purpose

1992/3 produced a peak

of international food aid

provision in 1993/4,

250,000

followed by a bumper

harvest and (in 1995) a

government ban on

t

200,000

Refugee/ID

h

maize imports to support

o

u

Emergency

prices for domestic

s

a

Developmen

producers.  In 1995 and

n

150,000

d

1996 there was very

little non refugee food

m

e

aid: but the successive

t

r

100,000

rainfall failures of 1996/7

i

c

brought a marked

t

increase again in

o

n

emergency and

50,000

s

development food aid

for 1997.  It should be

remembered that this

0

graph (like the

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

corresponding ones for

source:    http://www.wfp.org/reports/wfpstats

Tanzania and Uganda)

shows the allocation of

WFP

. It does not include Government food distributions, which in Kenya are a significant factor (as

discussed below).

3.1.b.

Policy context

Despite recurrent emergencies, significant expenditure of government resources on relief, and

frequent appeals for international disaster aid, the Government of Kenya has no coherent policy on

disaster response or preparedness, and no guidelines on the use of food aid.  

De facto

government  lines on these issues can be inferred from the practice of government food relief

distributions (see section 3.2.b.)  and the framework of existing institutions (described in section

3.1.c. below), which have been established piecemeal by various laws and administrative circulars.

Various Sessional (White) Papers on food security, drought management, social dimensions of

development, poverty alleviation etc. are also of general relevance, but the team was unable to

find any specific document on procedures or principles for responding to food crises.

A UNDP/ GoK working group on disaster management has been formed and a draft document on

the subject has been under discussion since July 1997,  but  at the time of the study there were no

specific plans for a project (such as those in Tanzania and Uganda) to support the development of

policy and capacity in this area.  The mandate of the Arid Lands Resource Management Project

(see section 3.1.c.) for the institutionalization of drought management and early warning within the

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