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Veranstaltungsberichte

Prevention of the Impact caused by Droughts: Lobbying and Advocacy

The training activities targeted members of local, national and international civil society organisations, the media and local government. Facilitators were drawn mainly from a government agency with expertise in issues concerning food security in the arid and semi-arid regions (ASALs) of Kenya. The participants interacted with the trainers and discussed the most effective lobbying and advocacy techniques towards implementing food security in their counties .

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The training activities targeted members of local, national and international civil society organisations, the media and local government. About 50 persons took part in this workshop. Facilitators were drawn mainly from a government agency with expertise in issues concerning food security in the arid and semi-arid regions (ASALs) of Kenya. The participants interacted with the trainers and discussed the most effective lobbying and advocacy techniques towards implementing food security in their counties. This was a useful exercise that made participants realize the importance of their own role when it comes to reducing their communities’ reliance on food aid during shortages.

Furthermore, the training also focused on “Early Warning Systems”. In these sessions, participants were sensitized on various existing “Early-Warning-Mechanisms”, how to access and interpret information and how to use it in order to ensure that leaders respond appropriately to “Early-Warning-Signs”. Key to these lessons was that one assignment of the non-state actors is to ensure that their leaders put mechanisms in place which respond to warnings regarding food shortages. This is expected to reduce reliance on food aid and promote preparedness both at the policy making and implementation level and at the community levels by changing people’s mindsets.

More importantly, the significance of traditional warning mechanisms in these two counties was emphasized. The facilitators and participants agreed on the fact that both mechanisms should be factored in preparedness of food shortages: on the one hand their local systems, and on the other the scientific “Early-Warning-Methods”. It also became evident that modern warning systems that have been set in place are not clearly understood by the local people in the counties and therefore have little impact on the way how they conduct their activities. In this regard the next challenge will be to support the civil society in ensuring a better accessibility to information, how to use it reasonably and the transparency of bureaucracy to avoid such problems in the future.

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