Kenya, which is a program country of Slovak development aid, has many prerequisites for economic growth. It is a transportation hub, financial, logistical, and economic center of East Africa, and the seat of the UN for Africa as well as other agencies.

Despite this, the economy did not grow as it could have. This was contributed to by political instability, widespread poverty, droughts, as well as high public debt and corruption. The high economic growth of 7%, achieved in 2007, was reversed by post-election unrest at the turn of 2007/2008. A few months later, the situation was further complicated by extreme drought and poor harvests. And the impacts of the global food crisis were joined by the financial and economic crisis.

Kenya is a country of great contrasts. Geographic and social. It is not only vast national parks and beaches along the Indian Ocean that attract foreign tourists. It also consists of fertile slopes where tea and coffee bushes are cultivated, fields of pineapples, banana trees, mango trees, avocados, rice, wheat, sugar cane, cotton, and flowers for export, as well as small farmers' plots with maize, beans, potatoes...

However, Kenya also has arid, dry semi-desert areas where water, when digging wells, sometimes appears only 70 meters below the surface, and where during extreme drought people lost their livestock, and thus all their possessions.

Ten years ago, an estimated 70 percent of people lived in rural areas. In recent years, however, many have moved to cities, and the proportion of people in urban areas is growing rapidly. The country speaks of a "time bomb" — the capital Nairobi is full of millions of people who have come and continue to come in the hope of finding a job and the prospect of a better life. They live in expanding slums that originally arose "at the gates" of wealthy neighborhoods — for the rich, they were and remain a source of cheap labor.

People in the slums live on what they manage to earn, which is usually only enough for basic subsistence and paying rent for a room made of mud and sheet metal. Those who do not own a house and cannot afford to pay rent are evicted. Women and girls in particular are therefore more vulnerable. Overall, crime is rising in Nairobi, and many women try to secure a livelihood through prostitution.

Even in rural areas, however, people struggle to make a living. Few own large plots of land, and ownership relations are unclear. Many others lived in once fertile areas, but their land suffers from the consequences of deforestation and the destruction of water resources.

In Kenya, awareness of the problem of climate change is beginning to take hold — the rainy seasons are shifting, rainfall is decreasing or, conversely, heavy downpours bring floods, and farmers are losing their crops. Water scarcity is a problem not only in rural areas but also in cities.

This is also why, among other things, it is recommended to introduce environmental protection support into aid programs (e.g., water collection and retention, tree planting, or waste recycling systems).

Attention must be given to strategies for ensuring food stability. For poverty reduction, economic growth, job creation, and support for entrepreneurial activities that help people achieve self-sufficiency are also important.

Focus is needed not only on cities but also on rural areas to prevent massive migration of people to cities, the rapid expansion of slums, and the problems within them. Investment is also needed in expanding education and people's awareness of their civil rights. The local government and parliament should strive to better use resources and funds to improve the living conditions of the country's inhabitants.

In the 1990s, Kenya's economy was at rock bottom. Despite structural reforms and better management, Kenya still suffers from weak planning and lack of disaster preparedness. The number of people trying to make a living through informal small businesses is growing — selling food at markets or in small shops, manufacturing furniture, repairing shoes, selling charcoal, tailoring, small-scale farming, and so on. A major challenge is formalizing this sector, improving technologies, and gaining access to the market.

Despite many setbacks, Kenya has a chance for economic growth. It remains the financial and investment center of East Africa, and Nairobi is the transport artery for most of Central Africa as well.

Based on the Strategic Plan 2010-2012 of the joint Support Office of DKA and eRko in Nairobi. The office coordinates the use of funds from the collections of the Austrian DKA and the Slovak Dobrá novina. The Dobrá novina /eRko/ Christmas caroling campaign is the largest Slovak fundraiser for projects in Africa.

SlovakAid in Kenya

In 2009, 5 projects worth over €680,000 received support from SlovakAid:

  • o. z. SAVIO – carpentry workshop at Bosco Boys in Nairobi
  • Humanistické hnutie Na Rovinu – expansion of the community center and construction of a health center in the Rusinga Island area
  • Institute of Zoology, SAS – facility for the production of sterile male tsetse flies to eradicate these flies in affected areas
  • o. z. Človek v ohrození - rural development in western Kenya – support for employment and entrepreneurship
  • Pontis Foundation – increasing computer literacy in southeastern Kenya

Since 2009, according to the medium-term strategy, Kenya has been one of the program countries of Slovak development aid. Other non-governmental organizations also have projects in Kenya with previous financial support from SlovakAid: Ten Senses – support for farmers and import of macadamia nuts within Fair Trade, Družstvo Integra – ecotourism project in Kasigau near Tsavo National Park, Magna Deti v núdzi – program to stop the transmission of HIV from mother to child, and others.

Several Slovak organizations – e.g., eRko, SAVIO, Integra Foundation – support projects in Kenya even without financial support from SlovakAid. The healthcare projects of Trnavská univerzita and Vysoká škola sv. Alžbety are also well known.

The article was published in the bulletin Rozvojová pomoc - Jar 2010. It is published by the Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities - an umbrella organization of 31 (23 regular members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organizations primarily involved in foreign development and humanitarian aid.