Food Assistance Fact Sheet - Kenya

August 24, 2016

Food Security Situation

CIA World Factbook

• Food insecurity is likely to persist through the end of 2016, especially in northern pastoral areas, and coastal and southeastern marginal agricultural areas, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). The forecasted La Niña will likely lead to below-average rainfall from October to December, inhibiting what is normally a period of recovery for rangeland and cropping conditions. The majority of households are expected to remain in Stressed (IPC Phase 2) levels of acute food insecurity with poor households in Garissa, Isiolo and Tana River moving into Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity by the peak of the lean season in September. The Kenya Food Security Steering Group joint assessment from July estimated that 1.2 million people are acutely food insecure, nearly twice as many in need of immediate assistance compared to February 2016.

• According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Kenya hosts over 600,000 refugees, most of whom are from Somalia. In May, the Government of Kenya (GoK) announced that it planned to close Kenya's largest refugee camp complex, Dadaab, citing security reasons. The Tripartite Commission, represented by the GoK, Federal Government of Somalia and the UNHCR, are meeting to discuss how to ensure safe, dignified and voluntar returns of Somali refugees from Kenya in this context. 

Food Assistance Programs

• The Office of Food for Peace (FFP) partners with the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) to provide relief and build resilience among the most vulnerable populations in Kenya. In the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), FFP supports food-insecure Kenyans by providing cash or food in exchange for work on improving community infrastructure, such as rehabilitating local roads or irrigation systems. With a continued, improved food security situation in Kenya, WFP has handed over its general food distributions to some county authorities, focusing instead on asset creation activities that build capacity and resilience. WFP will only provide general food distributions when need overwhelms a county's capacity to respond and by formal request. FFP is also providing funding and in-kind Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods to UNICEF for the treatment of severe malnutrition in the ASALs and among refugee populations in Kenya. 

•  FFP supports refugees living in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps, and their host communities, through direct food distributions, mother and child health and nutrition, and supplementary and therapeutic nutritious foods.

Food for Peace Contributions

Total Contributions:

Fiscal Year 2016 Contribution Breakdown:

Food Security Situation information is provided by FEWS NET and Refugee Information by UNHCR as of August 2016.