Kenya

Building a better future

The post-election violence that devastated Kenya in early 2008 soon subsided, but key underlying issues such as rising poverty, inequality, unemployment and corruption remain.

Rural pastoralist communities and poor urban settlements have suffered decades of neglect and under-development, leaving many Kenyans living without access to basic services.

How Oxfam is helping

We focus on providing clean water, building peace between conflict-torn communities, advocating for better governance, and helping ensure that poor people have enough food and income throughout the year.

In Turkana, Oxfam supported Akiru Ekwon to start a small shop.

  Having the shop means that I no longer have to collect firewood to sell. The shop pays for my children’s school uniforms. The government pays for primary education, but children must buy a uniform to attend. Sending them away to school means they not only receive an education but also three meals a day, seven days a week. Since I got the shop I no longer walk with my face down. I’m walking with my chest out.

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Read more examples of our work in Kenya:

• Development
• Emergencies

Comic Relief, DFID (Department for International Development) and ECHO (Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission) are funding partners of Oxfam in Kenya

Adressing rising inequality

The gap between rich and poor in the Kenyan capital Nairobi is growing, and the poorest are struggling to afford enough food to eat – at a time when food prices are rapidly rising and household income is shrinking due to the global food and economic crisis.

Recent Oxfam research found several thousand young children in Nairobi suffering from malnutrition. Nearly two-thirds of the city's population live in poverty and rarely have adequate access to water, healthcare or other basic services.

How Oxfam is helping

Oxfam is working with local Kenyan partners, to help improve poor people’s access to regular food and income, and providing basic services. We support the clearing of garbage and better waste management as a way of improving sanitation and creating job opportunities for youth in urban slum areas. It also reduces the risk of disease.

We provide cash loans and microfinance to help set up small-scale community businesses. We also work with Kenyan civil society to lobby the government for greater accountability and better governance.

Other development work

• Peace-building work to help resolve conflict between pastoralist communities
• Using innovative methods to help keep water supplies running in drought-prone areas

Oxfam's work in Kenya in depth

Kenya drought

Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans are already badly affected by a drought which is expected to get even worse in the coming months. Reduced food production as a result of the 2008 post-election violence means this year’s crisis is hitting poor communities even harder.

More on the East Africa food crisis

East Africa Food Crisis 2006

In 2006, eight million people across East Africa were affected by severe food and water shortages.

  This situation was bad and my children and I trekked for miles in search of water and pasture. But now, with two heifers [given to us by Oxfam], I believe our lives will be better.

Selenoi Monka, northern Kenya

Since March 2006, Oxfam and our partners have assisted more that 784,000 people across the drought-affected areas by providing water, supporting people's livelihoods and distributing food aid.

Find out more about our 2006 East Africa Food Crisis response

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Oxfam's work in Kenya in depth