Rising poverty in MS Kenya focus area

A new United Nations report says that 50 per cent of Kenyans are living below the poverty line. Poverty is on the rise in Eastern Province which is the new focus area of MS Kenya

By Morten Bonde Pedersen

01. March 2007

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report released Tuesday February 27^th, states that four out of eight Kenyan provinces recorded an increase in poverty levels in 2005. 

According to leading Kenyan newspaper, The Nation, the highest level of poverty appears in two of Kenya’s most remote regions: North Eastern and Eastern Province. In North Eastern the so called human poverty index rose from 43 in 2004 to 50.5 in 2005.

The poverty index is based on various factors such as literacy rate, average level of education in the population, life expectancy, GDP per capita etc. The higher the index, the higher the level of poverty.

According to The Nation figures rose in Eastern from 39 to 41 from 2004 to 2005. Eastern Province is of particular interest to MS Kenya, as that part of the country has become a new focus area for development activities.

Late last year MS Kenya embarked on partnerships with four new community based organizations in the Isiolo-Marsabit region in Eastern. All of them are involved in peace building and conflict resolution among marginalized pastoralist communities.

To MS Kenya director Anne Hoff, the new UNDP-figures emphasize how much the development efforts of MS Kenya are needed in the region.

“Poverty eradication is the overall goal of MS. Our new focus here in Kenya on Eastern Province is a result of the urgent need for development among communities there,” she says.

Apart from the two provinces mentioned above, Western and Nyanza came out in the UNDP report as belonging to the poorest regions in Kenya. That part of the country has for long been a focus area of MS Kenya.