Cabinet Secretary, Prof. Margaret Kobia presides over the official commissioning of various projects in Dadaab, Garissa County

On 20th May, Cabinet Secretary, Prof. Margaret Kobia presided over the official commissioning of various projects in Dadaab, Garissa County under the Kenya Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (KDRDIP) – a regional initiative in the Horn of Africa being implemented in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia.

KDRDIP is a five-year project that aims at providing priority support to host communities around Dadaab and Kakuma Refugee Camps within the Counties of Garissa, Wajir and Turkana the communities that have hosted refugees for over 30 years.

The projects commissioned today included:

i. The renovated and well equipped theatre at Dadaab Subcounty hospital.
ii. Newly constructed Dormitory and community library at Dadaab Secondary School.
In her keynote remarks, Prof. Kobia noted the Community Driven Development (CDD) approach as the driving success factor which had presented to us opportunities and best practices in community development and governance.

“This project has shown that communities have the abilities to identify own development needs, monitor and supervise implementation of own sub-projects, supervise and participate fully in the decision making on their development initiatives,” she said.

Prof. Kobia recognised the role of KDRDIP and noted that the project had demonstrated that it is easy to take into account the interests of women, youth and marginalized groups in decision making and project implementation.

The Cabinet Secretary also issued cheques worth Ksh. 425 Million from KDRDIP to benefit 850 community groups and Ksh. 1.3 Million from Women Enterprise Fund to various women groups respectively.

Dr. Anne Kinyua, the project’s National Coordinator said that the Project is positively impacting the lives of the communities in Arid and Semi-Arid regions and called on stakeholder to continue working together for the betterment of the lives of the vulnerable.

The Cabinet Secretary was accompanied by State Department for ASALs Principal Secretary, Mr. Micah Powon, Boaz Cherotich, Garissa County Commissioner, Hon. Dr. Mohammed Dahir MP Dadaab, Mr. Abdikarim Mohammed, Mr. Hared Hassan Lt. Col (Rtd).