contribute to a population’s resilience. Measuring resilience also contributes to
measuring people’s ability to respond to and accommodate adverse events.
3
Isiolo County is located in upper eastern Kenya covering an area of 25,336.1 km
2
.
Most of the county is a flat low lying plain. Isiolo is regarded as one of the arid
counties and is hot and dry for most of the year with two rainy seasons; short rains
(October and November) and long rains (March–May) with average rainfall of
580 mm. The main ethnic groups found in the county are Borana, Turkana,
Samburu, Somali and Meru. The main economic activities practiced in the county
include pastoralism, subsistence agriculture, small-scale trade, and limited
harvesting of Gum Arabica resin. Over the years, its communities have continued
to feel the increasing impacts of climate variability due to the increasing frequency
of drought episodes and their negative impacts.
4 These impacts include: longer
trekking distances for women and girls, over dependence on humanitarian aid,
infrastructure destruction due to flash flooding, changing livelihoods as communities
are unable to recover from the increasing frequency of drought episodes amongst
others.
The county was chosen for the TAMD feasibility testing, as it was the first
county to receive climate financing from the Department for International Development (DFID) for the establishment of a County Adaptation Fund (CAF).
5 The
objective of the CAF is to finance public good investments for improved resilience
to climate change through the County government and six ward adaptation planning
committees (CAPCs and WAPCs respectively) through the Adaptation Consortium.
6 The six wards are Kinna, Garbatulla, Sericho, Oldonyiro, Merti and Chari.
Resilience in Isiolo, according to the resident communities is equated to long
term development outcomes such as sustainable livelihoods due to better livestock
production which leads to increased incomes, improved human health, access to
natural resources/pasture, food security and access to education.
Thus the main question was whether investing climate finance in public investment goods was going to elicit resilience measures as described by the communities. For this the TAMD framework developed by Brooks and others
7 was chosen as
the tool that would be used to test whether resilience measures defined by the
3 Bene, C. 2013. Towards a Quantifiable Measure of Resilience. Brighton, UK: Institute of
Development Studies.
4 Republic of Kenya (2013). Isiolo County: First County integrated development plan
(2013–2017). Kenya, Nairobi: Government of the Republic of Kenya.
5 This fund is managed under the DFID’s Strengthening Adaptation and Resilience to Climate
Change in Kenya (STARCK+) with funds from the International Climate Fund.
6 Adaptation Consortium (2014). Adaptation consortium bulletin (online newsletter). Retrieved
from http://adaconsortium.org/images/publications/Briefing-Paper.pdf
7 Brooks, N., Anderson, S., Burton, I., Fisher, S., Rai, N., & Tellam, I. (2013). An operational
framework for tracking adaptation and measuring development. Climate change working paper
no. 5. London, UK: International Institute for Environmental Development (IIED). Retrieved from
http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10038IIED.pdf
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I. Karani and N. Kariuki
measuring people’s ability to respond to and accommodate adverse events.
3
Isiolo County is located in upper eastern Kenya covering an area of 25,336.1 km
2
.
Most of the county is a flat low lying plain. Isiolo is regarded as one of the arid
counties and is hot and dry for most of the year with two rainy seasons; short rains
(October and November) and long rains (March–May) with average rainfall of
580 mm. The main ethnic groups found in the county are Borana, Turkana,
Samburu, Somali and Meru. The main economic activities practiced in the county
include pastoralism, subsistence agriculture, small-scale trade, and limited
harvesting of Gum Arabica resin. Over the years, its communities have continued
to feel the increasing impacts of climate variability due to the increasing frequency
of drought episodes and their negative impacts.
4 These impacts include: longer
trekking distances for women and girls, over dependence on humanitarian aid,
infrastructure destruction due to flash flooding, changing livelihoods as communities
are unable to recover from the increasing frequency of drought episodes amongst
others.
The county was chosen for the TAMD feasibility testing, as it was the first
county to receive climate financing from the Department for International Development (DFID) for the establishment of a County Adaptation Fund (CAF).
5 The
objective of the CAF is to finance public good investments for improved resilience
to climate change through the County government and six ward adaptation planning
committees (CAPCs and WAPCs respectively) through the Adaptation Consortium.
6 The six wards are Kinna, Garbatulla, Sericho, Oldonyiro, Merti and Chari.
Resilience in Isiolo, according to the resident communities is equated to long
term development outcomes such as sustainable livelihoods due to better livestock
production which leads to increased incomes, improved human health, access to
natural resources/pasture, food security and access to education.
Thus the main question was whether investing climate finance in public investment goods was going to elicit resilience measures as described by the communities. For this the TAMD framework developed by Brooks and others
7 was chosen as
the tool that would be used to test whether resilience measures defined by the
3 Bene, C. 2013. Towards a Quantifiable Measure of Resilience. Brighton, UK: Institute of
Development Studies.
4 Republic of Kenya (2013). Isiolo County: First County integrated development plan
(2013–2017). Kenya, Nairobi: Government of the Republic of Kenya.
5 This fund is managed under the DFID’s Strengthening Adaptation and Resilience to Climate
Change in Kenya (STARCK+) with funds from the International Climate Fund.
6 Adaptation Consortium (2014). Adaptation consortium bulletin (online newsletter). Retrieved
from http://adaconsortium.org/images/publications/Briefing-Paper.pdf
7 Brooks, N., Anderson, S., Burton, I., Fisher, S., Rai, N., & Tellam, I. (2013). An operational
framework for tracking adaptation and measuring development. Climate change working paper
no. 5. London, UK: International Institute for Environmental Development (IIED). Retrieved from
http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10038IIED.pdf
272
I. Karani and N. Kariuki