The drought crisis was seen coming from a long way off. As the Table shows, FEWS was reporting

serious concerns about the cumulative impact of repeated rainfall failures in the Eastern and

North Eastern Provinces in September 1996 (and indeed earlier). The Government of Kenya

(GoK) had already started distributing relief food from its own resources in July 1996, while Oxfam

started distributing food aid in Wajir (with DFID support) in August.  Early warning of the potential

effects of a further failure of the October to January short rains had been given by both FEWS and

FAO/ WFP,  so that when the rains did in fact fail the response was swift.  The GoK declared a

national disaster in January 1997, several months earlier than Uganda (April) and Tanzania

(September).   WFP expanded the area coverage of its School Feeding Programme (to feed an

additional 79,000 children in ASAL areas) in the same month, pending approval of an EMOP.

UNICEF funded Supplementary Feeding for children in the North Eastern Districts had already

started. The GoK increased the scale and coverage of its maize distributions from February, and in

March WFP's EMOP 5803 came into operation, targeting general rations through NGOs to a

planned beneficiary population of 205,000 in the pastoral Districts of Garissa, Mandera, Wajir,

Marsabit and Isiolo, and school meals to a total of 270,000 primary and pre primary children

through an expanded School Feeding Programme.

The area targeting of the WFP and UNICEF response was primarily determined by their long term

strategic focus on the chronically food insecure Districts of the North Eastern and Eastern

Provinces (compare Uganda), combined with information  from the multiple  sources  and

assessment  missions mentioned above and in Table 11.   In April 1997 an agreement was

reached with the OP to divide the coverage of Districts where government and international relief

overlapped, so that government distributions would focus on areas surrounding the towns and

WFP/ NGOs would cover the more remote areas.

The major 

distribution mechanisms

 during the international drought relief operation were

general free distribution and expanded school feeding on behalf of WFP, and supplementary

feeding supported by UNICEF.  The latter is discussed in the context of Garissa, in section 3.2.d.

below.

WFP's general distributions were implemented by partner NGOs within the selected Districts.

Standard guidelines were given for beneficiary (stage 3) targeting:    Selection of beneficiaries  

will be made without prejudice to sex, age, race, religion or political affiliation, but 

focusing on the

needs of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children

. [The NGO] shall work in 

close liaison

with government

 sponsored relief coordination bodies at the district level (i.e. DSDDC, DSG)  ..

At the community level, a 

committee will be organized

   to assist in the selection of beneficiaries

and to perform the distribution of food.  The committee will be comprised of responsible persons

(including assured and significant participation by women) elected by the community. Wherever

feasible, 

food will be distributed directly to women

  .. Opportunities for 

Food for Work

 schemes

should also be fully explored    [WFP NGO Letter of Agreement for EMOP 5803, main points

italicized].  Preference was given to NGOs who were able to distribute through FFW or MCH and

to ensure that women were prioritized.   However, most of the general (non school) distributions

seem to have been given free due to the scale and time frame of the emergency needs. By August

1997 WFP reported that the general distribution had in fact reached 443,702 people in the North 

Eastern Province (presumably at half rations compared to the planning figures)  [WFP Kenya,

Update on EMOP 5803, October 1997].

Expanded School Feeding, on the foundation of a regular developmental programme 

16

, had been

found to be an effective emergency mechanism during the 1992/94  drought.  In 1997, the regular

School Feeding Program (implemented through the Ministry of Education) was to provide lunches

for 350,000 school children in 17 arid and semi arid Districts, with the main aim of promoting

school attendance and educational achievement.  During the first phase of EMOP 5803 (February

to August 1997) 452,016 children of primary and pre primary age were fed under the emergency

program at schools in the Eastern (Mbeere, Kitui, Machakos, Marsabit, Makueni and Tharaka

16

  Compare WFP's use of school feeding as a safety net program in N.E. Uganda (Appendix 1.2.a.)

A 36