The semi-arid districts of Turkana and West-Pokot in Northern Kenya experienced very poor rains last season leading to serious food shortages and lack of water for both livestock and the human population. The churches in the districts raised serious concerns to the government and to the ecumenical organisations working in Kenya as to the plight of the people and livestock and the need for urgent relief interventions. Led by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya, the churches approached the ACT Nairobi Forum in late October 2002 to undertake an assessment of the situation with an aim to intervene. The ACT Nairobi Forum led by NCA commissioned an assessment in mid November, 2002. The assessment revealed near total crop failure with mixed farming zones realizing less than 10% food harvest. This has resulted in a substantial rise in malnutrition levels especially among children and women.

The ACT Nairobi Forum which comprises Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), Dan Church Aid (DCA), Christian Aid (CA), National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Church World Service (CWS), Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK)and the Methodist Church in Kenya (MCK) propose to respond in the two districts through local churches as outlined in the appeal. NCA has been designated Lead Agency for the forum and will be responsible for receipt of funds and also will be responsible for submitting the required reports to the ACT Coordinating Office. The intervention will include distribution of relief food, agriculture inputs and also capacity building of local partner churches.

Project Completion Date:

31 October 2003

Signed by:
John Nduna, ACT Acting Director
Geneviève Jacques, Director of Programme, World Council of Churches
Robert Granke, Director, Department for World Service, Lutheran World Federation

For full details of proposals and budgets, please click below to download a PDF file of the entire Appeal.

Kenya - West Pokot/Turkana Famine - AFKE31 (file size: 53 Kb)

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