Funded by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Down-scaling of disaster risk profiles to county level in Kenya project aimed to develop flood and drought risk profiles for Kenya’s northern counties.
The project
Lasting ten months (September 2020 – June 2021), the project was carried out in the context of a collaboration between UNICEF, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWOMEN) in the implementation of the Consolidating Gains and Deepening Devolution in Kenya , dedicated governance capacity improvement in areas related to public financial management, performance monitoring and reporting, risk resilience, citizen engagement and inclusion (particularly for women, youth and people with disabilities). Indeed, a specific focus on the impact floods and droughts have on children has been maintained in the risk analysis and development of risk profiles.
Results
- Development of flood and drought risk profiles for Turkana, Baringo, West Pokot, Samburu, Mandera, Marsabit, Wajjr, Isiolo, Garissa Lamu, Tana River, and Kilifi counties
- High-resolution flood hazard mapping for Tana River and Kilifi counties
- Development of flood hazard profiles for Kisumu, Busia and Migor counties
- Linking flood and drought risk metrics to UNICEF Goal Areas
CIMA Research Foundation’s contribution
Within the project, CIMA Research Foundation was commissioned to perform risk analysis through a probabilistic approach that considered both low-frequency, high-impact events and high-frequency, low-impact events. In addition, risk profiles were developed taking into account current climatic and socioeconomic conditions and their projections for the future, so that the effect of climate change and socio-economical aspects was also considered.
CIMA Research Foundation’s work under the project was in continuity with that carried out during the Building Disaster Resilience to Natural Hazards in Sub-Saharan African Regions, Countries and Communities Programme, which had led to the development of country-scale risk profiles for 16 African countries; in the case of the collaboration with UNICEF, the scale of analysis and focus shifted from the national to the county level.