USAID-funded peacebuilding and conflict-management programs across northern Kenya that once funded local mediation efforts and coordination forums were terminated. A peacebuilding specialist said: “There are raids already happening both in Isiolo [County] and Marsabit [County]. We will continue now hearing that there is a raid … and this is mostly in drought grazing reserve areas.”
Date: 3/26
Region: Africa
Country: Kenya
Topic: Climate & Environment, Peacebuilding & Stabilization
Policy Lens: Climate & Resource Pressure
Entry Type: Field Observation
Additional Context: Devex journalist Ayenat Mersie looked into the impacts of U.S. aid cuts in Kenya one year after the initial funding freezes and terminations. According to her reporting, the secondary effects emerging from the abrupt reduction in U.S. funding have added to ongoing debt pressures, exposing strain in Kenya’s pastoralist economies and public health system.
This quote is attributed to Guyo Haro, an Isiolo-based governance and peacebuilding specialist who worked with USAID previously. Growing economic and climate pressure has forced pastoral communities' herds to graze beyond their usual areas. This has created increased conflict with local communities as resource pressure ramps up due to ongoing drought conditions.
Source: Devex