By Jackson Msanzu and Cynthia Maseno (KNA)
The government has partnered with the Islamic Relief Organisation to implement humanitarian projects in Kilifi and Tana River Counties meant to improve residents’ livelihoods including persons with disabilities.
During a County Steering Group (CSG) meeting held last week at Mnarani, Islamic Relief Organisation officials unveiled a project dubbed Strengthening Economic Prospects of Under-Privileged (STEP UP) intended to improve living conditions and economic prospects of the poor in the two counties.
Kilifi North Deputy County Commissioner Samuel Mutisya, who represented the County Commissioner welcomed the intervention efforts by Islamic Relief, saying that the move will complement the work of both the national and county governments in fostering development in the county.
“Islamic Relief has expressed their wish to carry out some programmes in Kilifi, which we highly welcome because they are major stakeholders in development. They will be doing community empowerment programmes including supporting water programmes, education, and other areas like farming,” he said.
The role of the national and county governments, he explained, is to create a conducive environment for stakeholders to come in and complement government efforts in development.
He added government departments such as the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), agriculture, gender, and water will work hand in hand with the organization to make the project a success.
However, he appealed to the organization to move to areas where other development partners have not worked to avoid duplication as well as consider the most underprivileged in the community, not leaving behind persons with disabilities.
Director of Islamic Relief in Kenya Hassan Abdille disclosed that the project comprises 4 programmes namely a water programme which is also known as the WASH programme, an education programme, a programme to support fish farmers, and a woman empowerment programme.
He also revealed that the project, which is estimated to cost US dollars 1.5 million, will benefit 24,000 households in both counties.
The director further explained that residents of the targeted areas will benefit from a water project that will ensure access to clean and safe water for domestic use, agriculture, and livestock.
“We are doing water programmes, where we are rehabilitating boreholes that already exist in Kilifi County. We are also desilting earth dams; making sure they can contain water,” the director said.
Abdille also reported that schools in targeted areas will also benefit from the water program through water connections from rehabilitated boreholes to improve sanitation and hygiene. In addition, the organization will construct improved pit latrines and classrooms.
The women empowerment programme, said the director, will be targeting women who are already in business, providing them with seed capital to further develop their businesses. The NGO will also provide entrepreneurship training to 10 women groups using the ILO training model.
“We will do a niche assessment before we begin the project, it will guide us on which areas we are specifically going to target. Our emphasis will be to find out the most needy areas in the counties. We will be targeting new areas, areas that we have not already targeted in previous programs”, he explained.
Kilifi County NDMA Coordinator Abdi Musa lauded the organisation’s efforts saying that they will contribute to ending the drought emergency in the county.
He also stated that it is the mandate of the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of all programmes that are undertaken in the county, specifically the partners in the national, and county government and NGOs to ensure transparency in the programmes.
“The National Drought Management Authority will partner with Islamic Relief to resource mobilise to support communities in Kilifi in terms of food security, improved livelihoods, WASH programme, and education programmes,” he said.
Islamic Relief has been at the forefront in supporting the communities in Kilifi and NDMA has ensured the programmes are not duplicated in one area.