The international response to the drought in Turkana has been extended by two months as drought devastates lives.
The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operation drought response programme is also known as the ASAL Humanitarian Network.
It provides three rounds of multipurpose cash transfers to vulnerable populations in drought-stricken areas of Kenya.
The drought response is being implemented in eight of the worst-affected counties of Marsabit, Isiolo, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Tana River, Garissa and Mandera.
The response in Turkana is primarily funded by Oxfam and implemented by Sustainable Approaches for Community Empowerment, a local NGO.
The AHN is distributing three rounds of MPCTs between December 2021 and March 2022 to selected beneficiary households across Turkana.
The households will also be supported beyond the programme until May 2022 under the European humanitarian aid operation.
It will be implemented by the Kenya Cash Consortium members (Acted), Concern, Oxfam, and AHN), the organisation said in report released Tuesday.
In Turkana, 2,053 households received the first round of assistance in December 2021 and January 2022
More than 130 beneficiary household interviews were conducted to establish a baseline assessment.
It indicated that 95 per cent of households had poor Food Consumption Score and only about 1.0 per cent had an acceptable score.
Following the cash transfers, only 47.0 per cent of households had a poor FCS during the midline assessment; 9.1 per cent of households had an acceptable FCS.
The average reported monthly income per household during the midline assessment was Sh8,986 an 872.5 per cent increase from the previous baseline assessment of Sh924.
“In line with the massive increase in the average monthly income, the most commonly reported source of household income was cash transfers at 66.7 per cent followed by fishing at 15.2 per cent,” the survey read.
(Edited by V. Graham)
