- Introduction
2012 was a recovery year for Kenya following the drought in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASALs) in 2011. The language was one of resilience, building on lessons learnt from 2011, building local capacities, particularly at community and local government level which feeds into preparedness for the next drought, an inevitability within the next couple of years. The urban informal settlements and slums experienced price spikes which continue to create hardships for the chronically poor.
Election fever has gripped the country and while constitutionally this was supposed to take place in August 2012, then postponed to December 2012, the date has now been fixed for March 4th 2013. The elections will be the first since devolved power was voted in under the new constitution in 2010. The task is enormous as 8 Provincial and 290 District governance structures will be dismantled and 47 Counties with devolved governance, including devolved budgets will take their place. Sessional papers, policies and acts are being developed, consultations taking place around the country and finally being steered through Parliament, to be completed before Parliament is dissolved, in the run up to the elections. The election will be multi-layered, including for President and members of Parliament, for County Governors and Council members. The stakes are high. Violence has already broken out in several parts of the country as candidates position themselves. Assistant ministers have already been arrested for hate speech. An added complexity is that possibly two Presidential candidates have been indicted under the International Criminal Court, for war crimes following the 2007 elections.
Election preparedness, being led by the government, is taking place around the country under 3 pillars including, Security, Mass Casualties, and Humanitarian Response, the latter being delegated to OCHA to coordinate. Concern is leading on this for Nairobi.
If the elections go well Kenya can look forward to good economic growth rates. Real GDP is expected to grow by 5.3% in the 2012-16 forecast period, following expansion of 4.4% in 2011. This rapid growth rate hides the increasing division between the growing number of people living in extreme poverty and the relatively small group with increasing wealth.
Implementation of the Country Strategic Plan for Kenya 2012-2016 has commenced. The primary geographic focus is on Urban Slums and the ASALs. The Country Strategy comprises three strategic goals and nine country specific objectives. These were derived from a comprehensive analysis of the external situation of which the promulgation of Kenya’s Constitution featured prominently along with an analysis of Concern’s internal factors. A significant shift in strategy will result with greater focus on people centred approaches as the foundation of programming and on government obligation in pro poor social and economic service delivery. Delivering a quality emergency response remains a core area for the Kenya Programme. The Kenya Programme will remain with five programmes:
Education, Nutrition, Food Income and Markets, HIV and AIDS, with the Advocacy programme integrated into each sector and the aim to expand into WASH in 2013 as co funding becomes available. Despite budget cuts, Kenya’s strategic plan calls for significant growth over its five year period with leveraging co financing a key strategic objective. Building on the resilience agenda Concern entered into an ECHO consortium with Oxfam, ACTED, VSF Belgium, and Swiss VSF for the ASAL areas, building on the individual strengths and expertise of the organisations for a more holistic programme across a wider geographical spread. It can also be used by ECHO as a funding vehicle for rapid response in case of crisis. Concern also became a member of the ASAL Alliance, a group of NGOs who advocate with both Government and donors for pro ASAL policies and resources.
