15 Jan 2020 WFP Kenya Country Brief, November 2019 Reportfrom World Food Programme Published on 30 Nov 2019 — View Original 
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In Numbers
5,762 mt of food assistance distributed
US$ 2.8 m cash-based transfers made
US$ 20.4 m six months (December 2019−May 2020) net funding requirements
693,000 people assisted in November 2019
Operational Updates
Floods and landslides in Kenya in the last quarter of the year have resulted in deaths displacement of families and have affected more than 300,000 people. Some of the most affected areas are the same regions ravaged by a long drought following two consecutive failed rains. Following a request from the Government of Kenya for logistics support,
WFP contracted a Mi-8 helicopter through UNHAS and airlifted 67 mt of Government relief food reaching beneficiaries in 33 locations in flood affected areas.
Additionally, WFP has pre-positioned nutrition and food stocks that could be used to fill a three-month emergency food gap in many of the affected counties if needed. In Turkana, WFP has distributed 2-months’ worth of food supplies to 2,000 families (12,000 people) and is providing farmers with inputs such as seeds and tools to unblock irrigation canals and resume crop production.
In the context of the Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) and implementation of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in Kenya, UNHCR has been working with Garissa County Government to develop a three-year (2020 – 2022) strategy for refugee self-reliance and host community integration in North East Garissa. WFP participated in the development of the strategy and a workshop during which the sector roadmaps were discussed and finalized. WFP also committed to support critical areas linked to food security and nutrition by leveraging its expertise in the food supply chain and market development, resilience building, nutrition and school feeding, its long-standing relationship with Garissa county government and ongoing investments in the county.
The Cost of Hunger in Africa study launched in November quantified the social and economic costs of undernutrition in Kenya. According to the findings, Kenya is losing an equivalent of KES 373.9 billion/year (6.9 percent of GDP) due to undernutrition. The study provided policy and programme recommendations to reduce the burden of undernutrition sustainably. The importance of tax relief for nutrition commodities, universal school meals programme and the need to increase investment to improve food security and nutrition was emphasized. WFP Kenya supported the Government of Kenya with the completion and dissemination of the study, with Kenya being the 17th country in Africa to undertake the COHA assessment.
As part of its efforts to strengthen food security and nutrition at the county level, WFP gathered 36 county officers from Samburu and Isiolo counties (health, agriculture and nutrition sectors) to support the design of detailed 2020 work plans for nutrition-sensitive programming in these two counties. Key value chains were identified for support to improve consumption of nutritious foods. The approach will address root causes of food insecurity and nutrition through social behaviour change communication, knowledge and skills transfer and layering of nutrition and health services.
In November, the Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA) embarked on piloting the WFP Farm2Go App with eight FtMA Farmer Service Centers (FCSs) in Tharaka Nithi County. The precursor to this was the FtMA Application, which Farm2Go has replaced and enhanced, enabling FSCs to collect digital, real-time data from smallholder farmers. The application has multiple functionalities to increase effectiveness and efficiency across the value chains. The pilot will last until January 2020 and learning will inform optimizing and contextualizing the application to suit the Kenyan context.
The Government of Kenya, WFP and ILO participated in the ILO’s Global Social Protection week in Geneva Switzerland on 25-28 November 2019. Besides learning from other countries’ experience in social protection, WFP Kenya presented Kenya’s experience of the Government and UN system “Delivering as One for Results” and its potential for achieving the SDG target commitments. The event brought together governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, development partners, international financing institutions, regional bodies, UN agencies, private sector, academia and civil society to focus on the Universal Social Protection in the context of the Future of Work.
WFP convened a “write shop” in Machakos to facilitate counties to finalize and standardize their Food Systems Strategy documents under their County Investment Development Plans (CIDPs). The plans will guide interventions with WFP support and also help to mobilize resources from multiple sources.
Primary country
Kenya 
Kenya: Floods and Landslides – Oct 2019
Other disasters
- Kenya: Drought – 2014-2020
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Content format:
- Situation Report
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Language:
- English
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Theme:
- Agriculture
- Education
- Food and Nutrition
- Logistics and Telecommunications
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Disaster type:
- Drought
- Flash Flood
- Flood
- Land Slide
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Vulnerable groups:
- Children
- Refugees
- Women
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