We celebrate donor organizations who have partnered with Mandera County to improve living standards

Mandera County Government would like to thank the various non-governmental organizations who continue to support/supplement the work of the County Government. In particular, we would like to say a BIG Thank You to the following organizations who stood by us even during the trying moments of inter-clan fighting and the insecurity in the Mandera County; Thank you UN Resident Coordinator for your support.

Despite the insecurity in Mandera County, you believed in us and lead a high powered delegation to Mandera in the middle of terror attack that saw thirty eight Kenyans dead. You were there to mourn with us and showed us motherly care. Mandera County is indebted and appreciate your support.

We thank UNFPA for the impactful partnership in the area of Maternal Health. We categorically appreciate the coordination work of Mr. Sid who believed in making maternal health a reality for Mandera County mothers.

The ambulance that you donated has gone a long way in helping the mothers that really needed the services. We appreciate you and your organization and look forward to continued partnership. Thank you World Bank for your support in Maternal Health, Livestock Resilience Program and health care funding.

For the coordination of high powered forum to re-map former marginalized Counties. Thank you for leading the debate on policy change for these Counties. We appreciate your support and look forward to continued partnership.

Mandera County appreciates the ambulance and logistic vehicle donation made by UNHCR to aid the Healthcare Sector. The ambulance will help reduce maternal health in the County. We thank UNHCR for your support and look forward to continued partnership. Thank you ACTED for the Food voucher and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Programs. We appreciate your close consultation and cooperation in regards to programing. We appreciate your close working relationship and look forward to working with you as we move forward.

Thank you Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) for Food Security/ Livelihood and WASH programming with IDPs and affected host communities, and Vocation training for the Youth. We appreciate the work you do with our IDPs, we look forward to continued support.

Thank you ISLAMIC RELIEF KENYA for livelihood, health and Nutrition programming,and support to Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), we appreciate your work.

Thank you Kenya Red Cross Society – For support in health care staffing, WASH, nutrition, and the distribution of food and non-food items to IDPs. You are our strong support and we appreciate you.

Thank you USAID for the capacity building funding and AfyaPlus program in healthcare. We appreciate your support and look forward to continued relationship.

Thank you Save the Children for your support in Health Sector, Maternal health and Nutrition. We appreciate your work in Mandera West Sub County.

Thank you Danida for health care funding and support, WFP in conjunction with Consortium of Cooperating partners (COCOP) for general food distribution and RACIDA for livelihood, Education, WASH and DRR programming. We appreciate you and look forward to continued excellent relationship to serving the people of Mandera County.

Thank you to all others who I may have not captured in this message. Your efforts are appreciated. Together we can go far in reaching the neediest members of our communities. Specifically, the Office of Donor Relations in the Department of Special Program will be your one-stop-shop for the coordination of non-governmental organizations’ work in the County.

For more information, please contact Tamima A Ali – Head of Special Programs, Disaster Preparedness and Management

Prudent financing marks Mandera’s rebirth

“We have a vibrant budget department. We channel 53 per cent of our budget to development projects. We currently have an absorption rate of funds at about 75 percent since the inception of the County Government.” - Ibrahim Barrow Hassan

For Mandera County devolution is a blessing. A region that never received any meaningful allocation of resources in 50 years of independence is now being mainstreamed into the rest of the country in terms of resource allocation. As a result, the County is expected to receive more than Kshs 100 billion over the next 10 years.

 “We are directing these resources to all sectors of our society in a way that it has never been seen before”. Says Ibrahim Barrow Hassan; CEC – Finance and economic planning. Some of these key sectors include infrastructure, health services, agriculture & Irrigation, livestock, education and water & Energy. According to World Bank reports, Mandera is one of the arid counties that have reported the lowest development indicators and the highest incidence of poverty in Kenya after many years of marginalization by successive regimes. It is estimated that about 87 percent of population of the county live below poverty line and it remains the most chronically food insecure county experiencing high malnutrition levels as well as the highest maternal mortality rates.

An aerial view of Mandera town which has seen a major facelift with the coming up of new constructions

 There are plenty of investment opportunities which according to County Integrated Development Plan can be targeted with view to improving infrastructure, Energy, Water Supply and many more. Governor Ali Roba says: “Mandera suffers from absolute under development over the years and will require huge capital inflows from alternative sources other than the County resources to be able to plug the gaps and improve living standards.” “The county government is proactively addressing the most urgent issues such as insecurity, water supply, food security, roads, health services and education among others,” Governor Roba says.

One of thye new constructions' taking place in Mandera

To uplift Mandera County to be at par with other counties, which did not suffer marginalization in Kenya, substantial resources must flow to it to finance infrastructural and development projects that can meaningfully improve peoples’ lives. The County Executive Committee member for Finance Ibrahim Barrow Hassan says the County Treasury too has put in place measures to enhance local revenue collection. “In the first two years of devolution, we have seen our revenue collection grow tremendously.”

Revenue collection has improved from KShs- 36million under the former local authorities to KSh 125 million under county government; a growth of 236 percent. We are projecting to collect KSh 220 million. The National Treasury has allocated Mandera County KSh 6.6 billion in 2013-2014 financial year and another KSh 7.8 billion in 2014-2015 financial year.

Architectural marvels redefine Mandera’s image

“Our mission is to improve lives. We will make it easier to reach hospitals and international markets. Getting this infrastructure right will spur all other sectors into excellence.” - Governor Ali Roba

There are buildings – boxes of varying shapes with square holes on the sides for windows. And the bigger they get the uglier they seem. Then there are pieces of art pregnant with cultural significance, as in Mandera town, where a boat and a cow’s face are slowly taking the pride of place.

Mandera town is today one huge construction site as the desert décor is transformed a stone a time into an architectural wonderland, thanks to the state of- the-art buildings being constructed by the County Government as well as the private investors. Governor Ali Roba holds that Mandera is a County of unlimited opportunities and endless possibilities.

He believes in investing right to unleash this potential by providing a dependable and sustainable infrastructural base. “Our mission is to improve lives. We will make it easier to reach hospitals and international markets. Getting this infrastructure right will spur all other sectors into excellence,” he says. What previously passed for a shanty township with ‘manyattas’ as dwelling places for a largely pastoralist population is now revelling in some of the best designed houses in the whole of Kenya.

The County minister for roads and public works, Ms Ethila Mohamud Issack, says they are applying best practices in having controlled development plans for Mandera town as well as for its townships of Takaba, Banisa, Elwak, Lafey, with professionals offering survey and physical planning services to investors and locals. Devolution has sparked off a rising demand for quality buildings for use as offices, as well as a rapid growth, especially in the hotel industry, where quality accommodation units that befit discerning patrons are emerging.

Landmark architectural masterpieces are on the way as the County Government of Mandera progresses the construction the County Assembly, designed in a shape reflecting the head of a cow, in this pastoralist land. The County’s Assembly building, the house on which the people’s will comes alive, has taken shape and is promising a presence so majestic the National Assembly building in Nairobi would not hold a candle to it. But behold what is being built as the official County Government headquarters. It is another brilliant piece of architecture taking the shape of a ship all sturdy to ferry the County through its unique environmental and manmade.

Achievements

• 12 inter-constituency roads covering 577 kilometres upgraded to gravel standards.

• Construction of the County Assembly on course for completion in January 2016.

• Tarmacking of 24.5 kilometres in Mandera town on-going.

• Gravelling of 152 kilometres inter-ward roads completed.

• Construction of a modern, quality rest house on course.

• Governor’s official residence under construction

• Travel time between key towns cut down by between 50-75 per cent.

• Design work for international airport done, ready to mobilise for construction.

• Construction of County Government headquarters on course for completion in January 2016.

• Construction of a stadium in Mandera town and daises in five sub-county headquarters on-going.

• Sub-county offices constructed in Lafey and Banisa towns with enough room for all departments.

• All government land secured by constructing stone perimeters.

• 40 drifts totaling 1,010 metres constructed to ensure roads are allweather.

Changing the desert into green farmland

“Mandera has virgin fertile soils, plenty of water from River Daua, all season

sunshine. With the right technology and crop care we are targeting

commercial scale production.” - Johora Mohamed Abdi, CEC Agriculture, Irrigation,

Livestock,Fisheries and Veterinary Services

 For many years Mandera was associated with sands, vast dry lands and a vulnerable people who begged for food and water whenever famine struck. Today, devolution has radically changed the County’s narrative and made farming a success story that baffles many. The drought-threatened arid lands have been turned into high impact green farms through irrigation along its rivers and dams and Mandera County is being converted into a food basket.Spurred by the need to create more arable land and produce more food, Mandera’s farms are expanding into the desert and the local community is slowly graduating from pastoralism and extreme poverty vulnerable to drought to sustainable agriculture.

Some 4,100 hectares of land are already under irrigation to produce maize, sorghum, cowpeas, onions, mangoes, sunflower, bananas and tomatoes. The race is on to tap the entire potential of 15,000 hectares.The County Government has put agriculture at the core of its growth plan. Its approach is simple, find the markets, create competitive paths to them and show farmers the way.

With irrigation, Mandera County Government has found a new and diversified source of income, where locals can feed their families, pay for school fees and medical care, accumulate savings for long-term stability, survive drought and adapt to a changing climate. By linking farmers to buyers through contract farming, a healthy local agricultural economy is beginning to emerge. Two years into devolution, Mandera is emerging as a shining example of how to improve food insecurity and spur subsistence farming in arid lands.

“We have been on a farming revival mission. We have converted farms, which were full of weeds into crop producing tracts. An agricultural department that was literally dead has been revived into a robust productive sector,” Governor Ali Roba says. “In 24 months we revived the agricultural sector and the farms are green almost through the years. We register bumper harvests and have a variety of food and cash crops.”

The County Executive Committee member for Agriculture Johora Mohamed Abdie, says the trick has been in reviving all failed irrigation farms that were abandoned. “We provided farmers with seeds, fertilizers and tractors at subsidized rates to encourage residents to return to farming and prosper agriculture. “The County is highly placed as a fruit producing County due to favorable climatic conditions for production of high value crops like mangoes, banana, and guavas. Johora Mohamed Abdi: “Mandera has virgin

fertile soils, plenty of water from River Daua sunshine all season, with the right technology and crop care we are targeting commercial scale production.”

 

A farmer weeding melon in his farm along Daua River

The river covers about 150 kilometres along Kenya’s border with Ethiopia and flows through Malkamari, Rhamu Dimtu, Rhamu, Libehia, Khalalio and Township wards into Somalia at Border Point 1. Governor Roba says, “The County urgently needs more farmland, and its only option is to reclaim land from the desert and revive agriculture through irrigation. The County’s ministry of agriculture has been working with farmers to transform the sandy wastes into profitable farmland, and to bring services and amenities to the communities that settle there. Since its coming into existence following devolution in 2013, the County Government will have injected Ksh950 million by the end of the current financial year, more than half of which will be invested in agricultural development as opposed to recurrent expenses.

LIVESTOCK REMAINS THE ECONOMIC MAINSTAY OF MANDERA COUNTY

Livestock keeping is a major source of income for households in Mandera County just as in Kenya’s other Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). An estimated 70 percent of the nation’s cattle stocks are located in these regions .The livestock sub-sector accounts for about 10 per cent of Kenya’s entire GDP and about 42per cent of the agricultural GDP. It also supplies the domestic requirements of the east

Africa nation meat, milk and dairy products, and other livestock products while accounting for about 30 per cent of the total marketed agricultural products. Kenya’s total cattle stocks increased from about 14 million heads in 1990 to 18 million heads in 2010, with significant variability between years due to reoccurring drought and disease outbreak. Although official trade volumes are low, Kenya is generally considered an exporter of live cattle, with Uganda and Mauritius serving as its main export partners.

Domestic beef consumption more than doubled over the past two decades, with beef accounting for about 73 percent of the total meat consumed by Kenyans. Market data indicates that Kenya meets its high national demand for beef by importing large volumes of cattle through informal, cross-border trade. Presently, Mandera has estimated 1.07 million cattle, 1.63 million sheep, 3.85 million sheep and 1.4million camels. Mandera County has a huge potential for livestock trade given the vast open land for rearing.

Herders at Takaba South vaccinating their goats ,vaccines were provided by the county government

Main Livestock Breeds in Mandera

The common types of livestock reared are goats (galla breeds), cattle (boran breeds), camels (Somali breeds), sheep (Somali black head breeds), donkeys (Somali breed) and chicken (indigenous breed).

Marketing and Trade

- Although Kenya is self-sufficient in most livestock products, it is not self-sufficient in red meat production and consistently meets its shortfall through inflows of on-the-hoof animals trekked across its porous borders from neighbouring countries, such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania.

- Kenya imports about 25-30 percent of its beef through unofficial movement of cattle across its borders, and about 2 million beef cattle enter the country annually, making the national herd highly variable.

- Kenya exports most of its live cattle to Uganda and Mauritius while Burundi and Tanzania also form sizeable markets.

- Imports of live animals require health clearance certificates issue by the port of entrance stating that the animal is healthy.

- All animals for export to Kenya must be held 21 days in approved quarantine facilities, which must be regularly inspected by veterinary authorities of the exporting country and subject to inspected by a veterinary officer from Kenya where necessary.

We’ve Revived Health Care Services

“Mandera people, through the County Government, are now in control of their health services, and more people have access to health services.” – Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed, CEC Health Services

At the inception of devolution in 2013, Mandera County Government exemplified the case of a region with no meaningful health care services. “We inherited a sector that was completely grounded,” said Governor Ali Roba in his address to the Mandera County Assembly in 2014, in reference to health.

The people of Mandera had little or no access to health care, safe drinking water and formal education. Diseases ranged from diarrhoea, malaria, respiratory infections, malaria, measles and Dengue fever.

Given that Mandera is semi-arid and its people pastoralists, lack of services only made an already bad situation worse. The journal of Tropical Medicine and International Health argues that given their lifestyle, systematic surveillance data on the health status of nomads are practically non-existent.

Mandera was a case study of regional differences in maternal deaths and highlighted inequities in allocation of resources necessary for the realisation of basic constitutional rights, especially, the right to health care. Mandera had the highest rate of maternal deaths in Kenya, with a MMR of 3,795 per 100,000 live births (7.6 times the national average and almost twice the NEP average). Compare this with Elgeyo-Marakwet that recorded the lowest MMR at 187 for every 100,000 live births.But this bad picture is changing very fast.

The County Government has devised strategies to deliver proper health care to areas previously profiled as remote. Hospitals and dispensaries are being rehabilitated and equipped with drugs as qualified personnel are hired to improve health services. Mandera people, through the County Government, are now in control of their health services, and access to health care is covering more women, children and men alike.

 

New Face of Mandera Hospital

Medical officer attends to a new born at Mandera Referral Hospital

“Devolution has increased resource allocation to previously forgotten and marginalised counties, thereby giving their populace a chance to improve their health and socioeconomic status,” Governor Roba says. The health sector had a vacancy rate of 93 per cent for skilled professionals, the highest in the country. To address this, the County has recruited an additional 360 health workers, pushing the numbers to about 500.

This is equivalent to a 13 per cent increase within two years of devolution. Staffing levels are still only 20 per cent of the ideal requirements based on the 2009 population census and WHO recommendations.

“In order to optimise service delivery, Mandera County requires 35 medical doctors, 400 nurses, and 100 clinical officers, among other health cadres,” Governor Roba says. “We inherited 52 health facilities out of which less than 10 were operational at less than 10 per cent capacity. This was fixed within the first year of devolution. All the existing health facilities are now functional. There are eight more, bringing the total number of health facilities that are fully operational to 60. This financial year we will be adding 30 new health facilities and 30 maternity centres, while a number of the existing ones will be upgraded with additional facilities,” says the Governor.

The County minister for health Hassan Eymoy says several milestones have been made in the sector in the two years of devolution. “To effectively do medical evacuation, we engaged seven new ambulances with an ICU medevac capability in partnership with the Kenya Red Cross Society in the first financial year. We have purchased seven new ambulances that will be run by the County Government,” Eymoy adds.

“This financial year we will be starting the construction of an ultra-modern hospital complex that will carter for all modern hospital amenities, including HDU, ICU, cancer treatment centre and accident and emergency centre with dialysis, CT-scan, and MRI machines among others. Our objective is to also have a wing that will be used by visiting specialist doctors,” says Governor Roba.

Plans are at an advanced stage to send a specialised group of medical personnel to Turkey for refresher training and on the use of these sophisticated machines, for periods of one month or less. All the hospitals at the sub-counties will also be upgraded to full Level Four facilities with all the necessary amenities befitting such status.

Mandera Rebuilding its Roads Network

Two years of intensive work on roads is paying dividend with benefits accruing especially for the transport sector in Mandera. Journey time for people and goods has been cut by up to 75 per cent in some instances. Ease of transport impacts all sectors in the County. More importantly, it elevates the quality of life, says Governor Roba.

“With motorable roads, the sick can get health care in a relatively timely manner while the farmers can get their produce to market faster. Services can get to the people faster just as security management would stand a better chance to being more responsive,” said Mr Roba. The County Government has moved to upgrade all the inter-constituency roads to all weather murram roads. Already, a total of 577 kilometres of dirt roads have been completely upgraded to all-weather murram roads. In Mandera town, a 24.5 kilometre stretch of road is currently being tarmacked, the first ever in the County. A total of 12 inter constituency roads are now all weather and gravelling in 152 kilometres of inter-ward roads is now complete.

The County Executive Committee member for Roads, Public Works and Transport Ethila Mohamud Issak explains that her department has established a Transport Management System TMS to improve movement of people and goods. Her ministry has completed the design of a 55-kilometre section on the B9 road (Kutulo - Elwak) and signed an MOU with KeNHA.

The ministry has also secured of all road camps in the County through construction of permanent fences and acquiring of all properties related to the Ministry. On air transport, the ESIA, feasibility studies and designing of the Mandera International Airport (MIA) has been completed. In addition, the assessment of all aerodromes in the County for safety and other related factors has been completed. The closure and planned relocation of Elwak Airtrip, Banisa and Rhamu are at an advanced stage.

Meanwhile, Mandera Town is registering unprecedented reconstruction as the city centre relocates. The new town centre is away from the current location, which is close to the borders with Somali and Ethiopia and has little space for expansion. New roads are being built as old ones are graded. A Five Star hotel is under construction as well as the Governor’s official residence and a stadium.

A section of an all weather road connecting Lafey to Elwak

Governor Captain Ali Roba says the county inherited virtually nothing from the National Government when they came into office, and it was challenging to get office space for himself, the County Executive members and the staff. “Mandera was a victim of systematic marginalisation for over five decades by successive regimes and devolution has just opened fresh doors for us. We are struggling to be at par with other counties, which did not face similar challenges,” Roba says. Governor Roba holds that Mandera is a County of unlimited opportunities and endless possibilities, and believes in investing right to unleash this potential by providing a dependable and sustainable infrastructural base.

“Our mission is to improve lives. We will make it easier to reach hospitals and easier to reach international markets. Getting this infrastructure right will spur all other sectors into excellence,” he says. What previously passed for a shanty township with ‘manyattas’ as dwelling places for a largely pastoralist population is now revelling in some of the best-designed buildings. “We want to have modern buildings too so that we can attract the best workforce from locals as well as people from other counties. We can only do that when we make them comfortable,” says County Executive for Roads, Public Works and transport Ms. Ethila Mohamud Isaak. “We want to have modern buildings too so that we can attract the best workforce from locals as well as people from other counties.

We can only do that when we make them comfortable,” she adds. The minister says Mandera is starting from a very low infrastructural base, and most resources need to go to development including facilities like offices, which were literally absent.