Mama Adey a Kiosk attendant at Giriftu briefing Oxfam Team photos by Mohamed Abdi A LEARNING REPORT

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1 Mama Adey a Kiosk attendant at Giriftu briefing Oxfam Team photos by Mohamed Abdi A LEARNING REPORT Report for the period 21 st to 30 th November

2 The overall objective: With a view to gain an understanding of programme work an opportunity for exposure and learning was available in the Wajir programme. The intended aim The main aim of the visit is to get first-hand experience and knowledge of the various projects undertaken by the team, interact with the partners and visit projects within the county where Oxfam operates. This report presents an overview of the learnings captured during the period Key partners and area visited During the period several meetings and discussions were undertaken with Oxfam staff in Wajir, local partners such as Aldef and Wasda, County department of Agriculture and Livestock, NDMA, Water department and also department of decentralised units and Special programmes. Introduction Wajir County is one of the 47 counties created under the Kenya Constitution The county is located in the North Eastern region of Kenya between and covers an area of 56,685.9 Km2. It borders Somalia to the East, Ethiopia to the North, Mandera County to the Northeast, Isiolo County to the South West, Marsabit County to the West and Garissa County to the South. The county experiences annual average relative humidity of 61.8 per cent which ranges from 56 per cent in February to 68 per cent in June. It receives on average of 240 mm precipitation annually or 20 mm each month and the average temperature is 27.9 C.The population is approximately 661,000 and majority of the population is Somali. Currently Oxfam has 3 projects running in Wajir: Echo Lanina VI, DFID SWIFT and START Network- Shifting the Power. ECHO Lanina has been implemented for the last five years and is currently in phase 6. It s consortium and includes Concern, Transparency International and Oxfam. Local partners are ALDEF and WASDA. There is also close collaboration with county government departments. Total beneficiaries are 141,203. The overall objective is to build community resilience COUNTY DEPARTMENTS Oxfam s collaboration with the County government During the reporting period several meetings were held with a number of county government departments. These were courtesy calls made by the Oxfam Kenya Country Director and the Wajir team. This also provided an opportunity to establish what the government departments were doing to prepare for drought in case the rains the short rains fail. 2

3 Department of Livestock and Agriculture Oxfam is currently supporting the department of livestock in strengthening their system to respond to emergencies such livestock diseases through Echo Lanina project. The support mainly focuses on analysing the technical staff required, logistics, human resources, financial resources, management and developing action plans for gaps identified for the county and stakeholders to support. Also during the meeting the County Executive Committee member for Livestock shared that Oxfam supported the county government in undertaking a rangeland study and developing of rangeland bill. Currently there are plans to scale up the rangeland bill for entire region and neighbouring counties of Mandera, Garissa, Isiolo and Marsabit since the livestock migrate across all the counties in search of pasture. The governors from these counties will engage through the newly established Frontier Counties Development Forum(FCDF). Key challenges shared by the CEC member include: disease control framework, right products for the market, Coordination as there are different players and varied approaches, and maximizing value addition for camel meat and milk. Currently the county has got funding from EU worth Im to support the livestock department. In addition the SDC (Switzerland Development Cooperation) is currently working to support the department in developing Livestock insurance policy and livestock disease surveillance policy. National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) In the meeting we had a discussion with Drought Monitoring Officer Mr. Omar Abdullahi. He explained that the county has experienced a delayed on set of rains as rains were expected around the third or fourth week of October. Some rains were received on the third week of November however not all parts of the county have had rains. This has led to water related drought, shortage, inaccessibility, and unavailability of water. This poses a risk to livestock, spread of diseases and movement of animals in search of water points. Going forward if the rains continue pasture will sprout. The water pans so far are about 30-40% full however, there is need for at least 3-4 more rounds of rain. The county government has a 6 month response plan for worst case scenario incase of failure of rains. The Governor has also been looking for regional organizations to fund their plan. A rapid response team has been established to fix broken down boreholes. There are 16 water trucks and another 18 more have been hired to address the water challenge. Vaccines have been purchased and Kshs. 49m was spent on hay for the animals. 3

4 NDMA has a small water intervention kitty of approximately Kshs. 9m. In collaboration with the county government, NDMA is on high alert and are monitoring the situation currently until April 2017 as the rains received are below normal. Oxfam Kenya CD shared that Oxfam has been a major partner and has been involved in capacity building for communities and existing structures of county government so as to be prepared and mitigate disasters such as drought. Department of Water Services The ministry has installed pre-paid meters in conjunction with Oxfam. At the household level there is piped water which is billed on a monthly basis. Seven areas in Wajir County have solar panels with solar run boreholes. The borehole maintenance team has had training opportunities courtesy of Oxfam in Nairobi. The water staffs have also been trained in Wajir. WASH programme has been implemented with Oxfam partnership. Wajir water department is a success story as there is good collaboration between the partners. Oxfam would like to collaborate with many players to implement projects e.g. Maji Milele water ATM s to be piloted in Nairobi slums. So far, 136 boreholes have been drilled in the last year or so and 213 centres are receiving water currently. There were 29 unsuccessful boreholes due to salinity or low yield. In Dagahley and Sabuli there has been migration of animals and people for water. New villages come up due to pastoralism. There is a centre with over 10,000 households now having water kiosks hence the community have piped water and water trucking no longer necessary. Going forward there is need to come up with more innovative and better programmes with regards to water trucking. Private sector could adopt the idea of building water tanks and supplying villages through water kiosks. It is noteworthy to say that even with devolution, the county government still requires partners like Oxfam due to their experience in the sector. Another aspect is that budgetary gaps are also experienced therefore Oxfam as a partner plays a big role. Governor s office Department of Labour and Special Programmes The department handles under the special programmes; disaster, public participation and intergovernmental issues Oxfam is supporting in the Disaster Management Policy document which will be launched soon through Echo Lanina Project. Also has been involved in capacity building of county government staff and has participated in peace initiatives by providing transport to peace meetings through ferrying elders to meetings. 4

5 Some of the challenges faced by the department include flooding during heavy rains, persistent drought leads to fighting over resources and peace and reconciliation has to be done. As far as the drought situation is concerned, the national government has not done enough as expected by the county government. As far as drought preparedness and mitigation is concerned there is low capacity as there is new staff in place. A drought preparedness plan is in place and WFP is offering capacity building and the department welcomed Oxfam to partner with them. With regard to sanitation, this is of concern as garbage disposal is a major challenge. There were three trucks which used for garbage collection and have broken down. Bins have been put in place for collection of garbage though there is need to have a change of mindsets among the community members. Sanitation is Wajir is bucket toilets which is a health hazard. 5

6 Field visits Oxfam Kenya Country Director and staff from Wajir programme visited two locations that is Griftu in the West and Dambas in the North West. The objective of the visits was to see Oxfam s resilience and emergency preparedness work at the community level. Sumananjali, Irene Mulwa from Oxfam having a discussion with Abakula from WAJWASCO photo by Mohamed Abdi In Griftu there are 8 water ATM s that have been installed through a partnership between Wajir Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO), Maji Milele and Oxfam. Another 4 more water ATM s have been constructed and will be operational from January The water ATM s are solar powered therefore during the cloudy weather dispensing water is not possible. The water ATM generates a revenue of about Kshs. 60,000 to 80,000/- per month after the installation of pre-paid card. The manual system would generate a revenue of about Kshs. 20,000 to 35,000/- per month. With the pre-paid system, there is no wastage as water dispensed is 20 litres and costs Kshs There are numerous benefits of having the water ATM s that include; convenience as manual drawing of water is eliminated and the members of the community do not have to travel long distances in search of water. 6

7 In Dambas we had a focus group discussion with Community Disaster management Committee (CDMC) who are currently engaged in the implementation of Echo lanina project. The committee shared that through linkage work and resource mobilisation they were able to get support of eleven projects for the last 3 years from county government and CDF.Also through a number of discussions the ECHO Lanina project built water kiosks in The representatives have undergone various training including proposal writing. A number of proposals have been successfully approved by the county government. However, in one instance the community requested for a hay store for fodder but instead the county government allocated them a public baraza space which the community highlighted was not a priority. A beggar has no choice this was a sentiment shared by one of the leader s. This has been the approach used by the county government to push resources down to them even when they are of least importance or not a priority at all. The water kiosks have been very cost effective as Wajir WASCO estimates that piped water would cost Kshs. 2.8m reaching 17 households whereas a water kiosk costs Kshs. 250,000/- reaching 70 households and generate a revenue of about Kshs. 90,000 to 115,000/- per month. Other trainings conducted by various NGO s for the community are how to deal with floods, fires, diseases and how to mobilize themselves internally. The community has reached out to the county government and NGO s to construct 30 toilets for Dambas and the request is still pending. Support from NGO s has reduced in the recent past yet there are dire needs. For instance there is need for a water tank as the main water tank for the community is broken down. 7

8 The community leaders were informed that it is important for them to submit proposals to NGO s and the county government. In addition, where funding is available it is important to know if the funds allocated were utilized appropriately for the specific project. The leaders also mentioned the need to improve accountability on their part as in the past they have been fearful to demand for it especially when dealing with the county government. The community was also reminded of resources being available with the county government with the devolved system of government. These resources belong to them as tax payers therefore the need to be bold and ask for resources. They were also informed of the need to engage the county government on a monthly basis. Going forward there is need for strong linkages with the county governments and NGO actors among others as the leaders aspire that Dambas will become a model for other villages. There is a network Wajir Resilience Network whose mandate is to advocate for the entire Wajir county and so far 10 villages have been trained by Oxfam. The community also had a meeting with the Governor regarding their priorities and there was a consensus that projects identified by the community would be prioritized in future. Meetings with Partners Oxfam Kenya Programme CD Oxfam Kenya Country Director and Wajir staff got opportunity to visit one of Oxfam s partner in Wajir - WASDA. The CD underscored the importance of incorporating women s rights in our programming. With regard to gender roles, we need to check if there are changes happening at the household level. Another aspect is representation of women needs to be reviewed to assess if the women are getting empowered or if they are over burdened. In our programs there is need to do a Gender Analysis to understand who does what at the household level. Discussions also involved how best to do donor linkages for our partners- strengthening and strategic shift that is bring different stakeholders on board so as to have a joint analysis for strategic learning. Capacity is also a concern and the biggest challenge being fund raising in turbulent times. Partners have benefited from Oxfam work through learning, workshops etc. Skills and expertise from Oxfam staff can be tapped. Going forward Oxfam will support local partners to increase their capacity and whatever they need and Oxfam can support they will be on board. Also it is important for partners to have a brochure for our work highlighting the work being done as funding comes from show casing our work. Additionally, partners need to have a Strategic Plan, have Proposals focused on their themes ready at all times, in case a funding proposal is called for on short notice. Partners are also being encouraged to go the Consortium way and bring all actors in Wajir and neighbouring counties to share lessons and challenges and also undertake joint fund raising. 8

9 Partner presentation on BRACED and Climate Resilience During the reporting period Oxfam requested each partner to share with us a project they are currently implementing that is currently running and it is not funded by Oxfam. ALDEF shared about Climate Resilience project that is funded by DFID.The project started in Wajir in 2013 and ends in April It s a constortium with NDMA and IIED.It aims to ensure that there are structures in place in wards and counties. ALDEF is piloting this project in 12 wards. The Climate Adaptation Fund Bill has been enacted for 2% of the county budget to be allocated to resilience. Ward executives have been trained on budgeting and working with county government. Each ward piloted one project and was awarded Kshs. 4m. Some of the key learnings are that local structures are the solution to climate and resilience. This is due to the fact that the community best understands its context and is best suited to identify its needs. Challenges faced by the project include; illiteracy among community members, lack of transparency and accountability by the county government as well as power struggle between the MCA s (Members of the County Assembly) and the ward leaders WASDA - BRACED (Building Resilience Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters) WASDA did a presentation BRACED project (Building Resilience Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters)This is a flagship program of UK department of International Development (DFID) and has three outputs: Natural resource management and governance, Market systems and Gender Empowerment. It is a three year programme which started in May 2015 and ends in December The lead partner is Mercy Corps who are implementing in Wajir West and WASDA is implementing in Wajir South in seven villages. WASDA works in collaboration with the Resilience Adaptation Committees and target beneficiaries is 98,000. The recently enacted Climate Adaptation Fund Bill will help to ensure that 2% of the county government budget goes to the resilience kitty. There are various programmes for the youth boys and girls and another programme that targets males both young and old in the community. 9