Brussels, 03/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is to make available up to €40 million to help the vulnerable in Kenya who face recurrent drought and malnutrition, announced Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs on Wednesday 2 May, during his visit to this Horn of Africa country (see EUROPE 10605).
This money will fund initiatives to improve nutrition and access to drinking water and to provide livelihood support for families, with particular focus on mothers and children, as they are the first victims of drought and hunger. The funding will come as a part of the new two-year (2012-2013) €250 million EU initiative, called “Supporting Horn of Africa Resilience” (SHARE), which seeks to support the people in the Horn of Africa recover from the recent drought and to strengthen the population and regional economy to better withstand future crises. The €40 million will allow aid to continue to be provided to the worst affected areas, preparation of communities against natural disasters to be improved, and a closer link to be forged between humanitarian aid and development cooperation.
“During the recent crisis hunger has threatened more than 13 million people in the Horn of Africa. The EU has done all it could to help the suffering people, but now we have to cure the disease, not only fight the symptoms. This new initiative will help Kenyans and people in the Horn to recover from the food crisis by swiftly linking short-term humanitarian response with long-term support for resilience to future droughts”, Piebalgs said. The first phase of the SHARE initiative will focus on Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. The second phase, which will run from 2014 to 2020, will cover the larger region of the Greater Horn of Africa and help it to be better prepared for natural disasters in the long term. Supporting pastoralism as the most efficient way of using land and water and programmes to facilitate trade at national and regional levels will be among the measures financed. (AN/transl.rt)