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Kenya

Sharon Ikimat in Turkana, one of the regions of Kenya worst affected by climate change.

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Overview

Kenya is very badly affected by climate change and regularly experiences droughts and flash floods. Nearly half of all Kenyans, approximately 21 million people, live below the poverty line. People regularly lack the basics we take for granted such as clean water, food and medicine. This is over four times the population of the whole of Ireland for whom a shortage of food can be an everyday reality.

Thanks to your support, Trócaire’s work in Kenya helps communities and families so that they do not go hungry. We also support women and adolescent girls who are survivors of violence. We help to prevent more violence against their friends, sisters, cousins and mothers. We promote human rights, democracy and peace in all of our work. We also help communities prepare for and respond to natural disasters.

Kenya

Human Development Index:
147th out of 189 countries

Life expectancy:
66 years

Gross National Income:
$3,089 per person

Impact in 2021

30,000

people supported to grow more food

15,000

people supported through women's empowerment

3,000

people supported with humanitarian aid

Contact Details

Eithne Brennan

Country Director

Why we are working in Kenya

Kenya is among the poorest 25% of countries in the world. Nearly half of Kenyans continue to live below the national poverty line.

Despite achieving lower middle income status in 2014 from the World Bank, poverty and inequality remain high in Kenya.

A research report in March 2020 suggests that poverty levels are on the rise again. It is estimated that a group of 8,300 ‘super-rich’ (out of a population of 47.6 million) control almost two thirds of the entire Kenyan economy. Meanwhile millions of ordinary people are reliant on subsistence farming to feed themselves.

Corruption is deeply embedded within Kenyan society. In 2015, the Chief Justice of Kenya declared that the country is a “bandit economy”, controlled by mafia-style cartels. Governance remains weak, and decades of civic and political struggle preceded the passing of the Constitution of Kenya on 27th August 2010.

The 2010 constitution was expected to guarantee human rights to all, freedom from discrimination and change the governance system for the better. Ten years on there are serious implementation gaps and key obstacles blocking the protection and promotion of human rights for all.

A changing climate is hitting Kenya hard. The failure of two seasons of rains put between one and two million people in need of assistance over the dry summer months of 2019. 80% of the country is either arid or semi-arid. In these regions over 60% of people live on less than $1 a day.

Women in Kenya do the vast majority of agricultural work. Yet they earn only a fraction of the income generated. Only 29% of those earning a formal wage in the country are women.

Beliefs, norms and social institutions legitimise violence against women and girls. 39% of women have reported physical or sexual abuse by their husbands or partners.

How are we responding

Trócaire has been working in partnership with local organisations in Kenya for over 47 years and has built up very strong, deep and positive connections with communities and partners during that time. We established our Nairobi office in 1994.

Trócaire currently works with over 20 local partner organisations across all levels of Kenyan society. Our work continues to address not only the symptoms of poverty and marginalisation but also the underlying causes of such poverty.

Trócaire works in four programme areas in Kenya

1. Women's Empowerment
Our integrated Gender and HIV work seeks to challenge gender inequality. It focuses on the empowerment and protection of women and girls. Particularly those at risk of violence, abuse and HIV infection.

Our actions include:
- Raising awareness and knowledge about women’s rights in communities
- Supporting several clinics in city slum areas. These provide treatment and care to poor communities
- Addressing gender norms that can be barriers to changing attitudes and behaviour through working with men and boys
2. Food and Resource Rights
This programme builds sustainable livelihoods for poor communities. We work with our partners to help families and communities at risk of drought and famine. We help them to become more food secure and resilient. Our focus is on some of the most precarious climate change-affected arid regions of Kenya.

Our actions include:
- Providing knowledge, training and support
- Working with local communities and those in power to address the growing abuse of fragile natural resources
- Improving the resilience of communities in the face of drought, famine and other disasters
3. Humanitarian Action
Our humanitarian response concentrates on particularly hard-hit areas. This includes Turkana in the north, as well as semi-arid areas of eastern Kenya.

Our humanitarian response includes:
- Providing cash transfers to vulnerable households
- Distributing food parcels and other basic items when cash isn’t possible
- Supplying high energy nutritional food for children through health facilities
- Vaccinating livestock to keep animals healthy – particularly for pastoralist communities
4. Justice and Human Rights
Our actions include:
- Promoting the enactment and implementation of laws and policies that support gender equality and food and resource rights
- Supporting civil society to be a strong and proactive voice in promoting democracy and human rights in Kenya
- Supporting conflict resolution work with communities. Particularly those affected by political and ethnic violence

Highlighted Resources

Alternative Justice Systems regulations

Download

Turkana County Climate Change Policy

Download

Citizen participation in County Integrated Development Planning and budgeting processes in Kenya

Download

Still Feeling the Heat: How climate change continues to drive extreme weather in the developing world

Download

Kenya Resources

Title		Resource Type	Year
	Trocaire Capacity Statement – Responding to Covid 19	Policy and Programmes	14 Aug 2020	Download
	Partnership in Practice	Policy and Programmes	14 Aug 2020	Download

View More Resources

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Latest Kenya News

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Bee engaged this World Bee Day

Eithne Brennan, 20 May 2021

...

Food & Resource Rights

Kenyan family featured on 2020 Trócaire box are surviving the pandemic with your support

Denis Kioko 25 February 2021

...

Kenya

Responding to Covid in Kenya: LVCT Health’s story

Dr. Lilian Otiso 19 February 2021

LVCT Health was this week named as co-recipient, alongside Dr. Mike Ryan of WHO, of Trócaire’s Romero Award. Here, LV...

Kenya

Safeguarding Dignity of Sexual Violence Survivors in Kenya

Trócaire 14 January 2020

...

Kenya

CIDSE-CARITAS Agroecology Conference held in Kenya

Trócaire 16 December 2019

...

Kenya

Solar pumps provide hope for Kenyan communities

Trócaire 26 November 2019

...

Kenya

A Good Buzz : Beekeeping in Kenya challenges gender norms

Trócaire 20 November 2019

...

Climate change

Can chickens help families affected by drought in Kenya?

Trócaire 14 November 2019

...

Kenya

Missionary in Kenya thanks Irish people for their support

Trócaire 26 October 2019

“Mukuru is one of the biggest slums in Kenya, where hundreds of thousands of people live,” explained Sr Ursula Agge ...

Climate change

Responding to drought, hunger and climate change in Kenya

Garry Walsh 25 October 2019

...

Kenya

Kenyan Village Coping With Climate Change

Trócaire 20 August 2019

In the midst of recovering from a deadly drought that took hold of the area for the last year, Pauline’s beautiful hom...

Kenya

Nancy’s Story: Sewing her way to online success

Trócaire 08 August 2019

...

Kenya

Farming Success in Kenya

Trócaire 30 July 2019

...

Kenya

Second Chances : Getting girls back to school in Kenya

Trócaire 27 June 2019

Drop-out rates for girls in secondary schools in Kenya are very high. There are many factors involved; some girls drop o...

Climate change

Promoting Climate Change Governance in Kenya

Trócaire 21 June 2019

...

Climate change

I saw the impact of a changing climate in Kenya

Eoin Wrenn 24 October 2018

...

Kenya

Sharing knowledge on Agroecology in Africa

Trócaire 25 July 2018

The workshop theme was “Resource-use and Management : Agroecology on-farm and wider-than-farm”. The particip...

Climate change

Bringing hope to drought survivors in Kenya

Trócaire 18 June 2018

Kenyans have survived through two years of failed rains. It is the worst crisis the country has faced since 2011. Thankf...

Kenya

Empowering budding women entrepreneurs in Kenya

Trócaire 29 May 2018

Risper is a 23-year old woman who lives in Nakuru, Kenya with her husband and two young sons, aged 6 and 3. Risper’s h...

Kenya

Hatching a plan for success in Kenya

Trócaire 21 May 2018

Catherine lives in a small compound which sits high on the side of a sparse hill in an outlying rural area above a town ...

Humanitarian

Trócaire responding to floods in Kenya and Somalia

Trócaire 10 May 2018

Trócaire is responding and will be providing food, water and other aid to 12,000 people over the coming weeks. Th...

Kenya

Sweet smell of success in Kenya

Trócaire 01 May 2018

...

Kenya

Community volunteers leading change for women in Kenya

Trócaire 11 April 2018

A motorcycle taxi driver describes how he is often the first to be called to scenes of domestic and sexual violence in h...

Kenya

Boxer Moran makes St. Patrick’s visit to Trócaire in Kenya

Trócaire 26 March 2018

Minister Moran was in Kenya to promote Ireland as part of the Government’s St. Patrick’s programme. However, he took...

Kenya

What causes young people to join extremist groups?

Trócaire 09 March 2018

...

Kenya

Carl Frampton floored by Kenya kids

Trócaire 06 December 2017

Carl Frampton has said that the “heartbreaking” poverty he witnessed during a trip to Kenya with Trócaire w...

Ethiopia

Public donations help scale up response to hunger crisis in East Africa

Trócaire 04 September 2017

...

Human Rights

Supporting those affected by violence and abuse in the slums of Nakuru, Kenya

Trócaire 22 August 2017

It is not very often that I feel a sense of disillusionment after spending time with communities that Trócaire is worki...

Human Rights

Peace-building efforts to be tested by upcoming Kenya election

Trócaire 31 July 2017

Journalist Bill Corcoran takes a look at Trócaire’s peace-building initiatives in Kenya’s hotspots of intertri...

Kenya

The Irish Catholic publishes series of news reports on Kenya drought

Trócaire 31 July 2017

Reporter Chai Brady of The Irish Catholic newspaper travelled to Kenya earlier this summer with Trócaire. There, h...

Kenya

Limerick man on the front line of the fight for life in East Africa

Trócaire 18 July 2017

Interview with Tony Woods from Doon in County Limerick who has lived and worked in Kenya for 50 years. Tony is currently...

Kenya

The children caught in Kenya’s hunger crisis

Trócaire 11 July 2017

Trócaire’s Niamh McCarthy reports on her recent visit to Turkana in Kenya, where she saw the awful impact of the ongo...

Humanitarian

Eyewitness account of under-reported hunger crisis in northern Kenya

Trócaire 24 May 2017

Drought is devastating northern Kenya and parts of neighbouring East African countries. And yet this situation isn’t m...

Humanitarian

Kenya: Report on food crisis in Turkana

Trócaire 11 May 2017

With severe drought gripping many parts of East Africa, millions of people are facing possible starvation in the coming ...

Ethiopia

East Africa hunger crisis in 5 stark numbers

Trócaire 26 April 2017

Prolonged drought is causing a widespread hunger crisis across East African countries. Somalia, South Sudan and parts...

Climate change

70 million hit by extreme food shortages

Trócaire 16 February 2017

Extreme food shortages are occurring across a number of African countries, with large areas of East Africa worst affecte...

Honduras

Human Rights Day 2016 – Standing up for human rights

Trócaire 10 December 2016

Today on International Human Rights Day 2016, I feel privileged that I get to defend human rights and support the fight ...

Kenya

Honey money: Beekeeping provides new livelihoods in drought-prone Kenya

Trócaire 06 December 2016

Dorcas Kenyatta lives in Kitui County, one of the most arid areas in Kenya. Following her husband’s death, she str...

Climate change

Degrees of separation in rural Kenya

Trócaire 12 February 2016

Climate change is leading to significant migration in Kenya, dividing loved-ones and driving families apart. Meet Teresi...

Human Rights

Working for peace in Northern Kenya

Trócaire 06 January 2015

Trócaire’s Michelle Hoctor writes about Father Patrick Devine, a Trócaire partner working on conflict issue...

Climate change

Ireland’s carbon emissions equal to that of 400 million of the world’s poor

Trócaire 05 November 2014

“Climate change threatens to undo all the gains that have been made against poverty”, according to Trócaire...

Human Rights

Almost seven years on, where is the justice for Kenya’s victims of post-election violence?

Trócaire 20 October 2014

By James Mwangi, Governance and Human Rights Officer in Kenya, and Julian Waagensen, Governance and Human Rights Policy ...

Kenya

An oasis of hope for people affected by HIV in Mukuru

Trócaire 08 July 2013

By Catherine Khamali, Kenya HIV Officer Trócaire is supporting a health clinic assisting the HIV positive community in ...

Human Rights

Kenya elections

Trócaire 28 February 2013

By Lawrence W. Mwagwabi, Kenya Governance and Human Rights Programme Officer, 28 February 2013 On March 4th, Kenyans wil...

Climate change

What a difference the rain can make

Trócaire 03 January 2012

Caption: Trócaire has used Irish donations to fund vital agriculture programmes in regions such as Ishiara in Kenya. Ph...

Climate change

Two people, two thousand miles, one problem

Trócaire 13 October 2011

Andrew Lodio has nowhere to go. Drought has ravaged his land, bringing dry desert all around him. A sea of dust stretche...

Climate change

Proof of life: Solving east Africa’s food crisis

Trócaire 05 October 2011

In a sea of famine and hunger, a small patch of land in the village of Nakwalekwi, northern Kenya, acts as a beacon of h...

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Kenya

Overview

Kenya

Impact in 2021

30,000

people supported to grow more food

15,000

people supported through women's empowerment

3,000

people supported with humanitarian aid

Contact Details

Eithne Brennan

Why we are working in Kenya

How are we responding

Trócaire works in four programme areas in Kenya

Highlighted Resources

Kenya Resources

Trocaire Capacity Statement – Responding to Covid 19

Partnership in Practice

View More Resources

Latest Kenya News

Funding Partners in Kenya

Irish Aid

United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTF EVAW)

UK Department for International Development (DFID)

Local Implementing Partners

Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya (AOSK)

Augustinian Fathers - Ishiara Parish

Caritas Kenya

Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance

Christ the King Catholic Church – Kibera

Catholic Diocese of Kitui

Catholic Diocese of Lodwar

Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC)

Catholic Diocese of Meru

Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO)

Hands of Care and Hope

Jesuit Fathers, St Joseph the Worker Parish - Kangemi

Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB)

Kanamkemer Parish, Lodwar

Kenya Land Alliance

Legal Resources Foundation

LVCT Health

Love and Hope Centre - Nakuru

Lokori Mercy Centre, Turkana

Medical Missionaries of Mary – Mukuru

Mukuru Promotion Center

St. Patricks Missionary Society

Ursuline Sisters St Columbas Technical Training Centre

Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM)

Women’s Empowerment Link (WEL)