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The Turkana people’s livlihoods and culture revolves around livestock keeping. This dependence on only one source of livelihood has led to widespread vulnerability during the recent extreme climatic conditions.
The biggest challenge facing the Turkana community is scarcity of water. During the dry season, they are forced to move in search of water and pasture across the border to Uganda and Sudan and this exposes them to risks of livestock raids and conflicts with the cross border communities. This leads to losses of lives and livestock, impoverishing the people further. Conflict at the borders has a ripple effect and affects even the refugee camp in Kakuma as those left destitute move to the more urban areas such as Kakuma Town. Movement of animals across borders cause spread of livestock diseases.
The establishment of Kakuma Refugee Camp within the Turkana community has led to increased competition for natural resources (firewood, water, and grazing land); it has introduced cultural differences and increased environmental degradation. The Turkana West district is marginalized and suffers from inadequate social and infrastructural development. The refugee camp is provided with adequate basic services and structures attracting the host community members to seek same services. These differences often cause conflict.
To respond to some of the problems stated above, LWF Turkana project is currently implementing the following activities:
- Water and sanitation
- IGAs
- Livestock
- peace building and conflict resolution
- ivelihoods
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