The National Drought Management Authority has registered 79,567 households in Tana River county for its Hunger Safety Net Programme.
For phase one of the project, the government targets 7,377 vulnerable beneficiaries who have been affected by the ravaging drought.
They will receive Sh5,400 bi-monthly translating to Sh239 million annually to be disbursed through Equity Bank.
HSNP Tana River project manager Abdikadir Madhowe said after registration they are now conducting community-based validation to identify the most vulnerable households who will be in phase one.
“Up to now, we have registered 79,567 households, this translates to 396,891 people that were captured in the registration exercise.
"After the registration, we are now doing Community-Based Validation; the houses will be arranged based on their poverty situation,” Madhowe said at NDMA offices in Hola.
The manager said they have done CBV in 20 locations, with 34 locations left.
“Today our team is in Ngao, Odha, Sala, and Kiarikungu locations, they will validate the list of people who should be in group one of beneficiaries,” he said.
NDMA was targeting 20 per cent of the Tana population who have been affected by the vagaries of famine.
Households that may have been left out are advised to consult with their chiefs for NDMA to dispatch registration personnel.
The project was launched in June 2021 in Gururi village, Galole constituency and was flagged off by governor Dhadho Godhana.
He had urged the beneficiaries to prudently use the money and invest some of it in income-generating activities.
The data that was collected by HSNP in the registration exercise will be used by the county government and other humanitarian organisations to target households that will not have benefitted.
The registration took a census approach and GPS coordinates of households are part of the data.
The GPS coordinates of the households will ensure the traceability of beneficiary households.
The Tana River county is predominantly inhabited by pastoralists and farmers' communities.
HSNP is being implemented under the auspices of the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project and by the end of the first phase more than Sh717 million will be disbursed to Tana River communities.
HSNP is an unconditional cash transfer programme. It has been implemented in Turkana, Wajir, Mandera and Marsabit counties where a total of 101,800 households in the four counties receive cash transfers.
The government has expanded the programme to Tana River, Isiolo, and Samburu counties to cushion vulnerable people in arid and semi-arid areas.
Some 32,000 vulnerable households will benefit during the first phase in these counties.
The National Government has other cash transfers, which include: Orphans and Vulnerable Children, People with Severe Disabilities, and Older Persons Cash transfers.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
