CEFR has allocated over $10 million to aid refugees in Kenya

Refugees in Dadaab camp in Kenya  [Photo: UNHCR]

22 June 2010: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will use $9.2 million to decongest the Dadaab camps for Somali refugees and expand Ifo camp and relocate 40,000 refugees and asylum seekers to the new Ifo site.  The World Food Programme (WFP) has been allocated $848,000 for multi-sector assistance for 40,000 refugees in the Dadaab camps.

Kenya hosts 380,000 refugees with over 50,000 residing in urban areas, 70,000 in the Kakuma refugee camps and 272,000 in the three Dadaab camps that include Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley.

The Dadaab camps are struggling with congestion due to a rapidly increasing population. They were designed to accommodate 90,000 refugees, but currently the camps are hosting more than three times their capacity. In addition, UNHCR anticipates that a further 80,000 – 100,000 new refugees and asylum-seekers will have arrived by the end of 2010 as a result of continuing fighting and displacement in Somalia. Inevitably, the congestion has led to serious security problems including overstretching of the current services and resources resulting in deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Surveys in 2010, for instance, indicated that water supply is still short of the international minimum standard of 20 litres per person per day. In addition, the competition over limited existing resources has led to conflict between the refugee hosting community and refugees.

[Last updated: 12 July 2010]

CERF allocates $10 million to Kenya for its underfunded humanitarian programmes

8 March 2010: Some $3.4 million has been allocated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the prevention and management of acute malnutrition and for a water and sanitation project in response to cholera outbreaks.   The interventions will reach over two million people.  The World Health Organization (WHO) will receive $2.6 million for an emergency response to cholera in the eight most affected districts in the Rift Valley and eastern provinces and will benefit 2.5 million people.  Another $1.7 million has been allocated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for humanitarian assistance and service delivery to 64,000 refugees in Kakuma.  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has received $1.5 million to support 60,000 pastoral and agro-pastoral individuals affected by extreme climatic conditions.  In addition, $710,000 has been allocated to the International Organization of Migration (IOM).  IOM will respond to cholera in Turkana which will directly help 85,000 people.  Finally, IOM will provide emergency livestock support to 2,500 families in the pastoralist host communities affected by droughts and floods in northwest Kenya. 

In August 2009, following the Long Rains Assessment, 3.8 million people  were estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance, primarily as the result of the cumulative effects of several, consecutive failed rainy seasons.  Those affected are predominantly pastoralist, agro pastoralist and marginal agricultural farm households. These groups have experienced an erosion of their livelihoods as a result of reduced access to water and pasture, declining livestock conditions and worsening terms of trade. Livestock losses in some parts of the country have been particularly heavy.

In addition, periodic cholera outbreaks have continued to affect many parts of the country and existing efforts have, as yet, been unable to provide adequate management and prevention.  Low levels of funding in the health sector and gaps in WASH have constrained efforts in this regard.    

[Last updated: 5 April 2010]

CERF in Kenya 2009
CERF in Kenya 2008
CERF in Kenya 2007
CERF in Kenya 2006