Information providers

Compared to Tanzania and Uganda, Kenya is an information rich country with numerous types

and sources of information relevant to food aid targeting.  The major opportunities for improvement

here lie not so much with the production of more data as with the accessibility, communication, co 

ordination and 

use for decision making

  of existing information.

A 

National Early Warning System

 was set up with IGAD assistance in 1989, on a similar

institutional model to those of Tanzania and Uganda   that is, it was designed as an inter 

Ministerial network based in the Ministry of Agriculture but drawing information also from the

Kenya Meteorology Department, the Central Bureau of Statistics, the National Cereals and

Produce Board, the Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing, and the Ministry of

Health (Child and Nutrition Information System / CHANIS).  However, this EW system was only

functional for a short time. It produced one bulletin in 1990 but then ceased because confidentiality

clauses were invoked by some of its member departments: its staff has been reduced to a single

agricultural officer in the Crop Production Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the system

has in effect been quietly forgotten. The separate government departments which nominally

comprise the early warning system, however, produce information which is regularly analyzed in

FEWS reports.  This includes agricultural production estimates  (Ministry of Agriculture), price data

for crops and livestock (Marketing Information Branch, MoA), and rainfall data (KMD).

A much more important institution for the future of food aid targeting and early warning in drought 

prone areas   not only in Kenya but as a potential model for other countries 

14

       is  the

decentralized system of early warning and response planning developed under the 

Drought

Preparedness, Intervention and Recovery Project (DPIRP) 

and now being replicated and

expanded under the

 Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP).  

The distinctive

features of this system (which was first established by the Turkana Drought Contingency Planning

Unit in the late 1980s and is currently operating in ten Districts 

15

) are, briefly:

 It 

covers 

selected

 drought prone areas in depth, rather than aiming for national coverage

(which would be prohibitively expensive using this approach).

  The design of the monitoring system (i.e. which data to collect and how to interpret them) is

based on a close analysis of local livelihoods, rather than the standard general indicators often

collected by centralized national systems. Indicators are selected to pick up changes in the

environment, local economy and human welfare.

  Information collection is through regular monthly  ground monitoring  by locally recruited

monitors, at household and community level (using a random sample of households for the

former).

  Monthly bulletins classify the local situation, according to a comparison of the indicators with

the expected range of fluctuation, at one of four  warning stages :  

normal, alert

, 

alarm, 

or

emergency.

  Thus decision makers can immediately see whether action is needed.

  If the monitoring report appears to warrant a relief needs assessment, the District Steering

Group will deploy a local Rapid Assessment Team (RAT) to identify the type and quantity of

assistance needed.  This recognizes that EW monitoring is designed to give early signals of

problem areas, but cannot directly answer the  how much  questions.

14

   In Uganda, for example, the NEWFIS co ordinator has recommended the TDCPU approach as a model

for District based monitoring in Karamoja [Mwendya 1997a, ref 59]

15

  Turkana, Marsabit / Moyale, Isiolo and Samburu are covered by the DPIRP; Garissa, Mandera, Wajir,

Tana River and Baringo by the ALRMP.

A 32