Kenya, EU sign Sh11 billion funding deal on drought mitigation, legal aid

What you need to know:

Sh2.1 billion will be utilised in efforts to end the worst of the suffering by drought by 2022.
Sh5.3 billion would be utilised to support productive, adapted and market integrated smallholder agriculture in Kenya.
Sh3.6 billion will be used in the programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery, a programme that targets the counties with the five largest urban centres of the country and seven counties of the most marginalised areas of Kenya.

President Uhuru Kenyatta Monday witnessed the signing of finance agreements amounting to Sh11 billion between Kenya and the European Union.

Sh2.1 billion will be utilised through the Kenya’s Ending Drought Emergencies Strategy. The strategy is the government’s commitment to end the worst of the suffering by drought by 2022.

The strategy was developed jointly between the government and its development partners and focuses on the 23 most drought-prone counties in Kenya.

Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury Henry Rotich signed on behalf of the Kenyan government while the EU commissioner in charge of International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica signed on behalf of his organisation.

The proposed programme will also promote the establishment of Public Private Community Partnerships to increase the role of the private sector in the construction and management of water supply services.

Sh5.3 billion would be utilised to support productive, adapted and market integrated smallholder agriculture in Kenya.

Smallholder productivity

The programme builds on the ongoing 10th EDF Kenya Rural Development Programme and the standards and market access programme.

It is aimed at supporting smallholder productivity and resilience, agricultural research and services, food quality and safety.

The EDF grant support will target provision of water services and capacity building to enable smallholder investment on farm, as well as reduce financial risks by way of interest subsidies.

Sh3.6 billion will be used in the programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery.

The programme targets the counties with the five largest urban centres of the country and seven counties of the most marginalised areas of Kenya.

It seeks to address the linkage between marginalisation of communities concerned and their exposure to criminal activities, including radicalisation which sustains a vicious cycle where exclusion and instability become mutually reinforcing.

President Kenyatta expressed his gratitude to the European Union for supporting Kenya’s social and economic development.