Kenya Drought Response Dashboard (January to March 2023)

SITUATION UPDATE

Needs in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of Kenya continued to rise in the first quarter of 2023, after the region faced its fifth consecutive below-average rainy season from October to December 2022. About 6.4 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance at the beginning of 2023, including over 5.4 million people projected to be severely food insecure by March 2023, according to the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. Over 677,900 children and almost 139,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women need treatment for acute malnutrition in 2023, with two sub-counties having global acute malnutrition rates more than double the emergency threshold (Laisamis in Marsabit County and Turkana South in Turkana County), according to the Acute Malnutrition IPC analysis. Families are taking desperate measures to survive the drought. Adolescent girls are engaging in transactional sex to meet their hygiene needs and other basic necessities, as families have prioritized food, according to UNFPA and IRC, while over 508,100 people in five assessed counties have left their settlements in search of goods and services, according to IOM/DTM.

Humanitarian organizations reached 1.3 million people, including local communities and refugees, with life-saving and life-sustaining assistance from January to March 2023, under the 2023 Drought Response Plan for Kenya. About 758,000 people were reached through food, cash transfers and livelihood support. More than 260,000 people received access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene items or hygiene promotion initiatives. About 117,000 people, including children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, were treated for malnutrition. Humanitarian partners also reached nearly 50,000 children impacted by the drought with education support, while 37,500 people received awareness-raising messaging on prevention of gender-based violence and access to services.

However, with only US$72 million received out of the $452 million needed to help 4.3 million drought-affected people in 2023 by the end of March, the response continued to fall far short of needs. Only 30 per cent of those targeted for assistance were reached during the first quarter, while humanitarian organizations prioritized robustly and focused on reaching people in the hardest-hit counties (identified as Operational Priority 1 in the Drought Response Plan).
Partners urgently require more funding to increase the drought response.

At the same time, violence among pastoralist groups, driven by competition over scarce resources, has been exacerbated by the severe drought, while activities of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have affected humanitarian operations and the security of people in need in the ASAL region. In the counties of Turkana, West Pokot, Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu, Marsabit and Isiolo, a significant spike in banditry and inter-communal violence, endangered lives and livelihoods while restricting humanitarian partners’ movement. In parts of the north-east counties of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Lamu, the presence and activities of NSAGs posed security risks, which impeded the ability to maintain or scale up humanitarian operations.