Cesvi and Welthungerhilfe working together in Dadaab Refugee Camps

As the drought crisis fades from mainstream media, the life-saving work in the Horn of Africa continues. Apart from cooperation in Dadaab camps, four Alliance2015 members are planning a larger project in northern Kenya together.

On August 16^th, Cesvi and Welthungerhilfe distributed the first non food items (NFIs) to ca 300 households, to people who had just arrived at the Ifo camp (one of the Dadaab refugee camps in Ethiopia). Daily arrival in the camps is now at around 1,500 people, and the relocation of refugees from the outskirts of the three camps that make the Dadaab refugee complex (Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera) continues.
The distributed kits included a 10 litre and a 20 litre jerry can for water storage plus multipurpose soap. The implementation of the action was quick and effective thanks to the previous presence of Cesvi in Dadaab and to the fast operational response of Welthungerhilfe. The next phase of the project is meant to reach 24,000 people with kits distributed to 6,000 households. The overall aim is to distribute hygiene kits to the entire refugee population in Dadaab. In this crisis, NGOs managed a true division of labour with organisations such as Cesvi and Welthungerhilfe covering the WASH sector.

In Marsabit, Mandera and Wajir county in northern Kenya, ACTED, Cesvi, Concern and Welthungerhilfe conducted an assessment during the second week of August. Dividing up the work areas among the partners and utilizing the same methodology and data collection tools made it possible to jointly cover a very large area.
Exhausted resources, erosion of capital, and expanding settlements are overburdening traditional coping mechanisms and the humanitarian actors’ ability to respond. Severe shortcomings in the areas of safe drinking water, food security and early recovery need to be addressed urgently. Additional priorities are the rebuilding of livelihoods and promotion of inter-community peace.
Alliance2015 members with their various strengths can cover these sectors: nutrition (Concern), improving water access (Cesvi, Welthungerhilfe, ACTED), livelihood restoration (Cesvi, ACTED), improved food security (Welthungerhilfe, ACTED) and conflict mitigation (ACTED). The members are currently looking for more funding for their coordinated action plan.