The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) is a statutory body established under the State Corporations Act (Cap 446) of the Laws of Kenya by Legal Notice Number 171 of November 24, 2011. The Legal Notice gives NDMA the mandate to ensure that drought does not become famine and the impacts of climate change are sufficiently mitigated by establishing, institutionalizing and coordinating structures for drought management. The Authority has, as its primary responsibility, the duty to ensure efficient, effective and sustainable management of drought, and thereby remove one of the threats to the achievement of Kenya Vision 2030.
Kenya has is a member state for Africa Risk Capacity Agency, a Specialized Agency of the African Union (AU) that was established in 2012 to help member states improve their capacities to better plan, prepare and respond effects of extreme weather events and natural disasters, thereby protecting the food security of their vulnerable populations. ARC uses Africa Risk View, a drought risk modelling platform, to monitor drought situation during a particular rainfall season and trigger payouts in times of major drought events, when the pre- agreed triggers are met. Kenya joined Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) in 2013 and the NDMA coordinates ARC technical activities in Kenya.
In that context the ARC programme in Kenya sub-technical working group is being convened to review and update the previous customisation settings, Customisation report and contingency plan. The TWG online workshop brings together key government departments and humanitarian partners responsible for disaster management as one technical working group, to review the current customisation settings and operation plan in preparation for participation into the pool.
ARC supports customisation review and OP development process by providing training on customisation and contingency planning to the working group and equipping them with relevant tools to review the OP which is informed by the National CP and its existing social protection interventions.
The model customisation outputs will be reviewed and activities identified in the current Operations Plan will be review to align with emerging issues or changes in the activities that are outlined in the national CP that meet the standards and guidelines for an ARC OP. The OP will also elaborate how funds will flow from ARC to beneficiaries, in case Kenya receives a pay out to ensure maximum possible efficiency.