2008 Press Releases
United States Humanitarian Assistance Following Post-Election Violence in Kenya: Ksh 1 Billion in Immediate and Long Term Aid
March 3, 2008
When violence erupted in Kenya following the December 2007 elections, the United States Government responded immediately to the humanitarian crisis that developed from the violence. Within days, emergency assistance funding reached violence affected communities through national and international agencies. Since then, more than more than 1 billion Kenyan shillings ($14.7 million) of disaster response funding and reprogrammed development assistance funds have been distributed for a range of emergency activities to help communities cope with displaced persons and rebuild. The U.S. has worked through the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), various U.N. agencies, and numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate across violence-affected areas, including in Rift Valley, Western, Nyanza, and Central provinces as well as impacted areas of Nairobi.
Immediate Response
In the immediate aftermath of the violence, the U.S. provided KRCS with Ksh. 14 million ($200,000) for the local purchase of emergency relief supplies.
On January 13, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) airlifted 350 rolls of plastic sheeting valued at more than Ksh. 12.1 million ($173,000)to Eldoret to supplement existing shelter resources for an additional 2,800 families.
USAID activated a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to conduct humanitarian assessments in affected areas, identify emergency needs, and coordinate the USG response in conjunction with the GOK, relief agencies, and other donors. USAID also established an interagency Humanitarian Task Force in Nairobi to share information and coordinate response efforts.
Ongoing Humanitarian Assistance
Across Rift Valley Province, U.S. funds are providing emergency relief supplies and establishing health, water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities through several implementing partners, including the Catholic Diocese of Kericho, International Medical Corps (IMC), International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Handicap Int’l.
In Nakuru, Molo, and Naivasha, Action Against Hunger is training water and sanitation committees and providing latrines, showers, hand washing facilities, and solid waste management pits, while the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, via a USAID grant to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), is distributing emergency relief supplies, constructing hygiene facilities, and training water and sanitation committees.
In Nyanza Province, the Archdiocese of Kisumu, also funded through CRS from USAID, is providing emergency relief supplies and clean drinking water, constructing latrines and hygiene facilities, and promoting hygiene practices.
MERLIN is overseeing mobile health clinics, health education, and counseling services in and around the greater Kisii and Kisumu areas.
In Nairobi’s Kibera slum, USG-partner African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) is implementing emergency health activities.
Support for U.N. Agencies
The USG has provided Ksh. 106.6 million ($1.5 million) to U.N. agencies, including the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), to address camp coordination, management, and protection issues and to implement nutrition, protection, and health activities in violence-affected areas.
To date, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), Kenya Red Cross, and Government of Kenya have reallocated 5,000 metric tons of food from its ongoing emergency feeding program in northeastern Kenya to KRCS to address emergency food needs of displaced populations. Half of WFP's food assistance is funded with USG support. In total, WFP, KRCS, and the Government of Kenya have provided food assistance to more than 436,565 people, including 276,065 displaced people in Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Central Provinces, and 160,500 vulnerable people affected by the crisis in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu.
Redirected Development Support
The USG, through USAID, is redirecting health development programs to redistribute bed nets, water treatment systems, surge emergency health staff, logistical support, emergency relief supplies, and response equipment across violence-affected areas, including in IDP camps and to Ministry of Health facilities.
Through the U.S. President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the USG is allocating Ksh. 490 million ($7 million) to renovate damaged or destroyed health facilities, recruit temporary health workers, procure nutritional supplements, HIV test kits, and pharmaceuticals, and provide logistical support.
USAID’s Kenya Maize Development Program (KMDP) is marketing Kenya’s current maize crop through the National Cereals and Produce Board and via private marketing channels and preparing to assist farmers restore livelihoods.
The USAID-funded Kenya Access to Rural Finance program is assisting microfinance institutions and the micro-entrepreneurs to re-establish business operations in violence-affected areas.