Page 28 - Aidlink AR 2021

KENYA COUNTRY PROFILE & PROGRAMMES
Continued
Livelihoods
Approximately 3.5 million people in Kenya, including 542,000 children are food insecure and suffering from acute malnutrition.
For the nomadic pastoralists of Kajiado and Turkana, agriculture, in particular livestock keeping, is the main economic activity and source of income. As delayed rains exacerbate extreme drought, the livelihoods of the Turkana and Masai are under imminent threat as cattle die and land and water sources go dry.
The prolonged drought is creating unprecedented cases of malnutrition and acute hunger. In 20 target communities
(10 Kajiado, 10 Turkana), school Boards of Management, Community Facilitators and community members were trained in Disaster Risk Reduction. These trainings taught learners how to respond to and mitigate against drought impact, and encouraged members participation in country government forums
to lobby for an increase in local disaster budget in their counties.
With hunger as one of the main barriers
to education, 4 community farms were established (2 Kajiado, 2 Turkana) in 2021. This new initiative moves away from the school gardens approach in previous programmes and mobilises parents and community members to work together on shared
farms. The shared farm model engages four school communities in clusters and in line
with PELUM Kenya and the Department of Agriculture recommendations, promotes alternative livelihoods, improves household food security, nutrition and income and further enhances the sustainability of school feeding programmes.
Aidlink Annual Report 2021 | 26
Cattle, Lioma sub-county, Turkana. Photo credit GCN