ActionAid projectIsiolo, Kenya.

http://www.infoasaid.org

Isiolo, Kenya

Source: http://www.openstreetmap.org/

• Isiolo County is a semi-arid area north of Mount Kenya, with a population of about 143,000 (2009 census).

• The area suffers from chronic drought and food shortages and nearly three quarters of the district’s total population lives below the poverty line (International Medical Corps April 2011).

• Isiolo has been subject to violent clashes and banditry between rival groups since late 2011. The security incidents have limited the access of humanitarian organizations in the region.

Situation Analysis

infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

• ActionAid has been the lead agency in WFP’s Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) programme in Isiolo since 2004.

• At the time of the infoasaid scoping trip in May 2011, ActionAid provided food to 45,000 people. This number nearly doubled t0 90,000 during implementation of the pilot communication project due to a severe drought in East Africa.

Situation Analysis

infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Water harvesting projects in Garba Tula.

Photo credit: Soren Bjerregaard/ActionAid

Children and cattle in Kina.

Photo credit: Soren Bjerregaard/ActionAid

• ActionAid communicated with aid recipients predominantly via Food Monitors (FMs) and Relief Committee (RC) members. Most of the information exchange occurred in face-to-face meetings.

• Due to poor road conditions, security incidents, and long distances between food distribution points, Food Monitors were at times unable to disseminate critical information on time.

• An information needs assessment revealed that drought-affected communities in Isiolo had little or no information regarding the prices of livestock in nearby markets.

• Data collected from the field took several days to arrive at the office.

infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Communication Challenges

An ActionAid Food Monitor in Kina pilot testing nutrition messages with community members.

Photo credit: Miranda Eeles/infoasaid

A monthly food distribution in Kina.

Photo Credit: Soren Bjerregaard/ActionAid

• Three strategic objectives:

1. To improve the effectiveness of ActionAid’s humanitarian assistance in Isiolo County through systematic, fast, and reliable communication between the organization and the beneficiaries it serves;

2. To enhance ActionAid’s monitoring and reporting through improved data collection;

3. To provide communities in Isiolo County with vital information that could improve their livelihoods.

infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Proposed Project

• Three interventions:

1. The use of mobile telephony, coupled with FrontlineSMS software, to improve the effectiveness of two-way communication between ActionAid and beneficiaries of food aid.

2. The use of FrontlineForms to electronically gather data from the field. FMs will be responsible for filling in the forms and sending them back to the Isiolo office on a weekly basis.

3. The use of FrontlineSMS, Freedom Fone, and bulletin boards to disseminate weekly livestock and commodity pricing information, as well as key humanitarian information, to communities. infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Proposed Project

• Six Activities:1. The purchase and distribution of 250 mobile

phones and solar chargers to Relief Committee members.

2. The purchase and distribution of 30 Java-enabled mobile phones to ActionAid Food Monitors, staff in the Isiolo office, and members of the District Steering Committee.

3. The installation of a FrontlineSMS hub at ActionAid’s Isiolo office.

4. The installation of a Freedom Fone (interactive voice response) service

5. The training of ActionAid staff on: FrontlineSMS, FrontlineForms, Freedom Fone, the development of key messages, responding to feedback, and the dissemination of market price information on bulletin boards.

6. To capture learnings from the communication pilot.

infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Proposed Project

The communication hub sends weekly market price information to a list of contacts.

Communication in action

3

1

2

The receiver transcribes the information on pre-

formatted bulletins…

…and posts them in public places.

Photo Credit: Soren Bjerregaard/ActionAid

4

ActionAid staff recording information on the Freedom Fone telephone line

Photo Credit: Soren Bjerregaard/ActionAid

Weekly commodity and livestock market price information posted on bulletin boards.

Photo Credit: Miranda Eeles/infoasaid

• Community members are able to communicate their questions, concerns and complaints to ActionAid more rapidly and effectively through RC members.

• ActionAid’s food distributions run more smoothly since RCs are informed of upcoming deliveries and are able to prepare the community on time.

• Travel to deliver routine information to RCs is reduced for FMs, saving ActionAid time and money.

• Faster reporting of data and analysis of trends.infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Expected Outcomes

• Pastoralists use the information to achieve better prices for animals that they sell, thereby boosting household income.

• The humanitarian information provided alongside market prices supports the well-being of drought-affected populations.

• Overall coordination between stakeholders involved in humanitarian activities at the Isiolo County level is improved, as ActionAid shares vital information received from RCs with members of the DSG during fortnightly meetings.

infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Expected Outcomes cont.

Scoping trip

Procurement

Baseline Research

infoasaid Training

Pilot Implementation Learning

Review

May-July 2011

:1) What did each infoasaid response seek to do? What happened? What worked well, what didn’t work well, and why?

2) How, if at all, did the communication project influence the overall humanitarian response?

July-August 2011

March 2012

Monitoring Visit

October 2011

infoasaid for ActionAid – September 2012

Timeframe

Women in Oldonyiro explaining howtheir community uses the mobile phones.

Photo Credit: Soren Bjerregaard/ActionAid

http://www.infoasaid.org

World Vision in Voi, Kenya

International Rescue Committee, Somalia

Save the Children in Wajir, KenyaRead More

Save the Children in Puntland, Somalia

Thank you for your attention !