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KAS held communal forums in Baringo County on the implementation of agreed strategies in the area of food safety and enhancing household food security on the 6th and 7th July 2017.The main objective of this activity was to strengthen the implementation of strategies against disaster prone locations where Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) plans have been developed and attempted. This exercise was meant to put the community in focus at the center of managing the DRR process by way of mapping and analyzing the existing anthropogenic/socio-economic and natural hazards, their vulnerability dynamics, communal local level and external survivability and readiness capacities in addressing the impacts of drought and disasters at minimal costs.

A participatory disaster risk analysis process was conducted for two days in four locations namely: Kapkelelwa, Cheberen, Kimalel and Kamar, with focus on hazards, vulnerabilities, capacities’ assessments and an overall risk analyses for planning with disaster in context. The initial Community Action Plans that were developed recommending the specific interventions to be pursued, the strategies to be adopted, the practicability, costs and urgency of the itemized intervention as basis for prioritization was revisited. The Action Plans generally ranked three to four of the major hazards namely insecurity, livestock diseases, human diseases and drought. The intended outcome of the communal dialogue forums was to strengthen community capacities and subsequent strengthen the environment for consensus in implementing key community level strategies in the area of food security and safety. This activity is meant to strengthen the role of the civil society in holding the government to account on questions of food security.

A target group of 100 people consisting of vibrant community members (opinion leaders, women self-help groups, school representatives, youth groups, persons living with special needs, Area Chiefs and Assistants) were mobilized, with 114 people turning up. The Regional Pastoral Livelihood Resilience Project did the mobilization of the target groups with assistance coming from I Serve Kenya and NDMA Baringo Office. The intended outcome of the communal dialogue forums was to strengthen community capacities and subsequent strengthen the environment for consensus in implementing key community level strategies in the area of food security and safety. Community identified priority areas for resource mobilization strengthening including; agriculture, health & nutrition, livestock & fisheries, education, water, environment & natural resources, and peace & security.

The dialogue forums were successful and provided the first point of contact with the communities in assessing the progress so far achieved and the challenges that continue to persist. The infusion of capacity building especially on resource mobilization and planning cycle was also imperative in providing insights that the communities could maximized especially while taking into account the budgetary cycle of the government and integrating some of the issues within their own community plans and the Annual Ward Development Plans. Issues such as project planning, budget formulation, situational analysis were presented and group works held to assist the different committees selected as per the different sectors to put into practice some of the ideas learnt. The capacity challenges to access external support as assessed by KAS and NDMA during the plenary was the biggest impediment to the actualization of the respective community plans. “Resources have been there in the past even in our offices, but the implementation structure and presentation of the intervention as picked from their communities’ plans has been a key challenge” said one of the NDMA officers. The dialogue forum organized by KAS in the four locations in Baringo therefore helped at address this gap and rekindle communities’ commitment to implementing plans key in promoting food security situation.