UN approves funds for Turkana

UN approves funds for  Turkana

By Our Reporter in Nairobi.

A family in Turkana

The United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security has approved a US$6.1 Million to support resilience building in Turkana, Kenya. The project `Strengthening Human Security in the Border Communities of Turkana, Kenya’ will  be launched by Minister Ibrahim Mohamed Elmi; the Minister for State for Northern Kenya  and Other Arid Lands together with the United Nations Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Aeneas Chuma and the Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Kenya, Mr. Toshihisa Takata on Wednesday,July 18 in Nairobi.

Turkana region suffers from a ‘climate change-migration-conflict-nexus’ where recurring, severe drought cycles lead to increasingly frequent out migrations of pastoralists within Kenya or across the border, in search of water and pasture for livestock.

The Human Security Trust Fund project is focused on strengthening the resilience of the dominant livelihoods in the face of natural disasters and other shocks, while providing alternative coping mechanisms through coordinated, sustainable interventions in the livelihoods, food security, education, child labour and health sectors. Considering the mobile nature of pastoral border communities, the project will target the most vulnerable of the Turkana Central population as well as selected neighbouring cross-border communities by providing opportunities to interact in a peaceful manner through joint training and the establishment of joint markets and trade opportunities.