NAIROBI - The Government of Japan has contributed US $15 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide food assistance to people in the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya. The contribution will also assist refugees in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camp in the north of the country

“Half of the contribution will bring one-month’s food assistance to 580,000 refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps,” said Japanese Ambassador to Kenya Toshihisa Takata at a handover ceremony in Nairobi on Monday. “Continued and collective international support is required. The rest of the assistance will go to arid and semi arid areas in Kenya,” he added, noting the importance of disaster-preparedness in building resilient societies.

WFP is currently assisting 580,000 refugees and as many as 465,000 Kenyans living in the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya.

“WFP is grateful for the continued support of the Government of Japan,” said WFP Kenya Country Director Ronald Sibanda. “Japan has contributed more than US $37 million over the past three years to WFP’s resilience-building and refugee operations in Kenya, which make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable people.”

WFP is responding to food insecurity in Kenya through three separate initiatives: school meals, food assistance to refugees, and food or cash for people working on resilience projects that prevent soil erosion and rehabilitate farmland. In total in 2013, WFP aims to provide food assistance to over 3.4 million people.

The creation of assets such as terracing, dams and water catchments helps households in the arid and semi-arid areas withstand climate-related and other shocks that may affect their communities and livelihoods.

The Parliamentary Secretariat for the Directorate of Special Programmes representative thanked the Japanese Government for the contribution on behalf of the government.

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