* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Drought and its devastating consequences are not new to the people of East Africa. For centuries farmers and pastoralists have learned to anticipate failed rainy seasons at least once a decade. For the most part, they could prepare for this and ensure their assets, such as their camels, cattle, sheep and goats were protected. However, in recent years this has changed and the period between droughts and failing rains has become shorter and shorter.
Pockets in each of the countries in East Africa are now experiencing severe drought every two to three years. This increasing frequency ensures that people do not have time to re-build assets lost before the next drought hits, and last year’s drought was no exception. Communities across the region, who had only begun rebuilding their lives from the last drought in 2009, felt the shockwaves of devastation once again.
While rains at the end of 2011 and earlier this year helped in some areas to restore pasture for animals and bring the prices of some food stuffs down for those in urban areas, the crisis for the poorest and most vulnerable in the region is not over. They know that they are only one bad season away from crisis again. This, however, must change, communities must be helped to build their resilience and the poorest must be enabled to improve their lives, and be protected from the devastating effects of drought and other such shocks.
Concern and its partners here in Kenya are already working with communities to find solutions to these long term and recurring problems. In Moyale, northern Kenya, Concern has been working with some of the poorest pastoralists and communities who had lost animals and their means to make a living over a number of years. Through water catchment and irrigation schemes, communities have transformed what was once dry scrub land, into vegetable plots providing their families with income and a more diversified diet. The enthusiasm from communities such as these for projects which they can take ownership is obvious. One former pastoralist, Guyo, told me after he had lost his animals from drought, he never believed he would live happily again. Now with his plot of land he sees himself as a farmer and will happily grow his crops which are bringing back the good life he had lost.
As a result of projects like this, Moyale last year did not see the high malnutrition rates its neighboring districts experienced. While it wasn’t easy for communities to escape fully the effects of drought, and some relief was needed to carry them over the hungry months, they had the tools and expertise to mitigate the worst and not slip backwards.
Through these and other transformative programmes, such as cash transfers in urban slum areas, people can plan for the future and be prepared for what may be around the corner. This ensures people are given a chance to re-build their lives and move forward to a brighter future.
Concern is committed to ensuring that communities, despite underperforming or failed rains, are protected from the worst effects of drought and given a chance to re-build their lives. During 2010 and 2011 Concern attempted to prevent crises from tipping into large scale humanitarian disasters in the areas in which it worked by building the resilience of communities to drought and protecting the most vulnerable. Concern launched emergency response programmes in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia reaching nearly 850,000 people in all three countries with life-saving assistance.
