Dadaab, Kenya, 8 March 2023 — Women and girls continue to bear the brunt of the worst drought experienced in Kenya for 40 years now, which has exacerbated their protection risks. This has led them to be exposed to different forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) including sexual exploitation, harassment, and abuse, as well as intimate partner violence. In 2022, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) one stop support centre in Dadaab refugee camp saw an increase of 50% of clients who were provided with GBV services compared to 2021.
Reports from the protection team indicate that the increase is highly likely to be just a small fraction of the survivors who accessed IRC protection services and that many cases go unreported due to stigma and other challenges faced by survivors when trying to access quality GBV services. As the effects of climate change and conflict intensify in Kenya, women and girls' risk for many protection concerns, including gender-based violence continue to increase.
Jane Ambale, Senior Women Protection and Empowerment Officer for IRC in Kenya said,
“When men and boys are forced to move with livestock in pursuit of water, women and girls are left alone without the protection of their family. This puts them at risk of GBV, especially when having to travel long distances to collect water, firewood, and other necessary items for the household. IRC is responding by training the community on GBV prevention, mitigation, and response. Decisive actions are needed across the board to address gender-based violence and inequalities in Kenya, including in drought-affected areas.”
Zainab Omar*, a refugee at the Dadaab refugee camp said,
“My husband was a successful farmer, but when the drought hit, he was not able to grow any food. The burden of providing for the family became too much, causing friction between us. One day, he told me he was going out to look for work. He never returned. I came here with nothing, and could not even get food or shelter for my children. I still owe a debt of 4,000 shillings ($33) to the man who transported us here. I don’t know how I am going to pay him. I am also increasingly concerned about the safety of my girls. While my brother travels long distances to find feed for his livestock, I must walk over eight kilometers a day to fetch water for drinking, cleaning and cooking. My girls stay home alone for long periods of time.”
For now, Zainab is housed in a shelter made of sticks and cloth on the periphery of Hagadera camp, alongside other new arrivals. Among them is her brother and his family, who arrived a few months earlier.
IRC’s work goes beyond community training. To help support women and girls from the drought’s fallout on their health, safety and wellbeing, we operate a gender-based violence support centre that functions as a safe space for women and girls in Hagadera, offering psychosocial support and referrals for medical care and related services.The centre holds regular community outreach events and weekly listening sessions, where women gather to discuss their protection needs and safety concerns. Between May and December last year, the centre served 2,000 women, including 400 new arrivals.
IRC also distributes dignity kits to members of the community. The kits contain essential hygiene supplies that enable women to maintain their personal hygiene and sense of dignity during and after an emergency.
The IRC also is working across the region to provide nutrition, health, water and sanitation, women’s protection and empowerment and economic development services. With hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kenya based at the camps and others being forced to move in search of survival, vulnerable women and girls have little to no access to critical health facilities, protection, and support services - at the very time they need them the most.
The IRC calls on all world leaders to increase funding to scale up the response to the drought while at the same time increasing support to protection services for women and girls in the region, specifically services like psychosocial support and economic recovery programming.
The IRC has been working in Kenya since 1992, providing essential health and nutrition services in Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps to tens of thousands of refugees escaping conflict and natural disaster in Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and other neighbouring countries. We also provide support and care to women and girls who are victims of violence.
*Name of the client changed due to protection concerns.