ACTED has been present in Kenya since 2006 with a coordination office in Nairobi. The teams in Kenya are implementing projects to meet the needs of populations regularly affected by drought. Local communities are supported with improved access to food, protection of livelihoods and increased access to basic services such as sanitation, clean water. The NGO also works with local governments and community peace committees to promote social cohesion and integration.
85% of Kenya’s land mass is arid or semi-arid (ASAL). Historically, populations living in these areas face marginalisation in terms of access to basic services and employment opportunities. The majority of the 700,000 Kenyans in need of humanitarian assistance in 2018 reside in these areas. Over 300,000 children live in families without reliable access to sufficient quantities and varieties of food and over 80,000 children are acutely malnourished. While rural populations have begun to see the benefits of the government’s efforts to devolve decision-making, challenges such as lack of financial resources and poor infrastructure continue to stifle their chances of breaking out of aid dependence.
To address these issues, ACTED works with ASAL communities to improve their access to food, sustainable livelihoods and water, hygiene and sanitation.
Over the past year, a series of severe floods struck the districts of Samburu and Mandera in central and northern Kenya, leading to loss of life, property and livelihoods and the subsequent displacement of the affected populations. ACTED delivers cash assistance to hard-to-reach families via mobile cash transfer services. This approach enables people to access cash quickly, safely, and efficiently on their mobile phones through a dedicated platform.
ACTED also works with communities to rehabilitate strategic water sources through solarisation. This means installing solar technology in water wells to provide renewable energy to power the water pumps used to extract water. This approach helps both to increase access to safe water, and reduced operational and maintenance costs of water sources. In order to improve hygiene practices, communities participate in hygiene promotion activities and receive basic hygiene items, in addition to attending training sessions aimed at reducing the risks associated with waterborne disease. Finally, ACTED trains agro-pastoralists on modern farming techniques and provides them production assets to develop climate-smart farming.