During the months of March and April 2023, nine Beach Management Units (BMUs) located across five coastal counties in Kenya will receive a total of 26 fiberglass boats, that will allow them to boost their catches and increase related income. The provision of fishing inputs, including boats and fishing equipment, is one of the core activities within the Italian component of the EU-funded Go Blue Programme, implemented by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (Aics) in a technical partnership with the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM Bari). Promoting the enhancement of fisheries co-management and of the fisheries value chain is one of the key objectives of the initiative, which stems from the recognition of the great potential that the blue economy has for the growth of Kenya. Fishery is in fact identified by the Kenyan Government as a sector with significant potential to spur national economic growth in its key economic blueprint, the Vision 2030.

The lack of adequate equipment represents one of the major constraints affecting small-scale fisheries in Kenya: due to the lack of owned boats, fishermen are generally obliged to pay a rental to use equipment from middlemen, sometimes at very high prices. In addition to that, fishermen have to cover the costs of fuel. These expenses clearly impact the revenues deriving from fishing.
With the ambitious objective of improving the small-scale fishery value chain at all levels, with special attention to the cold chain management, the Italian component of the Go Blue Programme is targeting the most challenging phases of the value chain, from the moment of capture, through the provision of boats, cool boxes and equipment, through the collection points, with the provision of cold storage facilities, access to clean water and cold rooms to ensure correct conservation of products, to the retail phase, by providing street vendors with cool boxes to ensure fish is well preserved under cold conditions. Aics is also working with the County Government of Lamu and Mombasa counties to build two fish markets that will ensure that target BMUs have improved access to markets. The infrastructure will be built in strategic areas to serve as agents of change and boost the development of the fishery value chain.

‘Our component is very ambitious, and we have designed it in a way that the multiple challenges currently affecting the small-scale fishery value chain can be addressed through a set of targeted and different interventions’ says Paolo Damato, component lead of the Italian intervention within the Go Blue Programme. ‘These actions range from the construction of infrastructure as enablers of change, to the provision of fishing inputs, from the introduction of improvement across the cold chain, to the realization of training activities for fishermen.’

In a view of ensuring sustainability, Aics is also working with CIHEAM Bari and the Jumuiya Ya Kaunti Za Pwani (JKP Secretariat), the local stakeholder, a mechanism to ensure that the boats delivered to BMUs can be managed through a sort of revolving fund where boats can generate a capital managed by the BMU to allow fishermen to acquire additional boats.

‘The blue economy is a driving factor of Kenya's development policy and a sector where the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation is planning to invest more in the future’, says Mr. Giovanni Grandi, Head of Aics regional Office in Nairobi. ‘It is our responsibility to use the blue economy in the most sustainable way while capitalizing its positive impacts on food security, healthy diets, environmental sustainability, and women empowerment. We stand by Kenya in putting small-scale actors at the heart of blue economy policies: our aim is to ensure that the community-led Beach Management Units established by the Government of Kenya are put in the position to adequately manage the ocean and its resources.’

The Italian component of the Go Blue Programme can build on the existing similarities between Italy and Kenya regarding the blue economy utilization and the efforts both countries are putting in place to ensure a sustainable use of the coastal resources and ecosystems: both countries have long coastlines, and both invest in significant economic activities related to the blue economy, such as fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism. The countries have developed policies and initiatives to promote the sustainable use of blue economy resources and to support the growth of related industries; the Go Blue Programme opens great opportunities to capitalize best practices and experiences to ensure shared lessons learnt and development.

We went to Adjumani, a district in Northern Uganda at the border with South Sudan. We have followed the path that refugees take when they enter Uganda, starting from the moment of registration immediately after crossing the border until their arrival in the refugee camps. Where Aics intervenes in support of refugee and host communities

The border

To cross the border between South Sudan and Uganda from the Ugandan district of Amuru, you have to walk on a bridge over a completely dry river, crowded with trucks, motorcycles, animals, sellers of everything, soldiers, dust. From the Ugandan side, we only managed to cover half of it; the South Sudanese military then sent us back.

Every month, hundreds of people cross this bridge fleeing South Sudan, a country still reeling from a 5-year civil war, internal tensions and consecutive years of record floods that have caused one of the most serious humanitarian crises on the continent, with about 2 million internally displaced people and 2.2 million seeking protection in neighbouring countries.

Once passed the strict controls of the military on the bridge, you arrive at the Ugandan border offices. It's hard, even for us, not to feel relieved noticing the huge red sign above the offices: WELCOME TO UGANDA.

Collection Point

Elegu Collection Point is located 300 meters from the bridge. Here, the Ugandan authorities of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the entity managing the refugees’ reception system, together with UNHCR and a medical team register the newly arrived refugees and carry out the first health checks, administering vaccines if necessary, including the one against Covid-19.

Elegu is just one of the access points on the border between Uganda and South Sudan. Francis Kirya from the Ugandan OPM tells us that in Elegu alone they had registered 646 new arrivals in January 2023.

While he’s showing us the identification cards and bracelets to entitle refugees to receive food from the World Food Program (WFP), Francis sees behind us that a South Sudanese family is entering the Center: they walk slowly but decisively. They are nine; seven children, their mother and her brother.

‘How long did you have to travel to get here?’ we ask them, sensing their exhaustion in the burning equatorial heat.

'One month', answers the only boy who speaks English; 'we took a bus that crosses the whole country, we couldn't afford any faster vehicles’.

At the Elegu Center, each family member is registered on a platform through fingerprints. This system serves to identify refugees in a global database, where security checks are carried out by the intelligence services.

In the evening, the family will be taken to the Nyumanzi Reception Centre.

Reception Center and assignment to camps

At the Reception Center, newly registered refugees will spend a few days before being transferred to one of the camps nearby. Each family is assigned temporary housing; there are communal sanitary facilities and WFP daily distributes food aid. There is also an emergency medical center and a small playground for children.

Life in the camps

Uganda is the African country hosting the highest number of refugees: more than 1.5 million according to the 2021 census, of which 65.3% comes from South Sudan. Francis explains that assignments to the different camps are made based on availability and with attention not to mix conflicting tribal groups. Once in the camps, refugees are assigned small plots of land that can be used for subsistence farming.

According to UNHCR data, as of December 2022 Adjumani District alone hosted about 280,000 asylum seekers and refugees, registered in 18 camps. Of those, 86% were women and children. This is precisely the area where the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (Aics) concentrates its activities in support to refugees and hosting communities.

'Through our Civil Society Organizations present on the field and in collaboration with the local authorities, we intervene with training and business creation activities for young people, developing income and livelihood opportunities often through the collaboration between South Sudanese refugees and Ugandan hosting communities. We also promote actions that can facilitate the conditions for an eventual return to the country of origin to help its reconstruction,' explains Giovanni Grandi, head of Aics Office in Nairobi. 'In this way, we support Ugandan policies encouraging the integration of refugees and mitigate possible tensions that may arise between the two cohabiting groups, and which stem mainly from the joint use of the natural resources.'

The adoption of measures to prevent and mitigate tensions between Ugandan and South Sudanese communities is essential where, due to protracted insecurity conditions, the South Sudanese refugee population is gradually settling in Uganda. The story of Grace, 35, is emblematic in this sense: Grace arrived 31 years ago as a refugee in Uganda, and still nowadays she is a resident in Elema camp (Adjumani district). Here, Aics is supporting the realization of infrastructural interventions, including the installation of water supply systems and the renovation of spaces to host community recreational activities. 'These interventions have also helped to reduce conflicts between refugee and host communities,' she says, referring in particular to the well built by Africa Mission - Cooperation and Development (C&S) right behind our backs.

Grace is now a community leader, and she works as a translator at Elema health center, 'because the language barrier often creates problems of understanding between Ugandans and South Sudanese,' she explains. Grace completed primary and secondary education in Uganda. She has five children and has built her own house within the camp. 'The Ugandan refugees’ reception system works, they make refugees feel comfortable. My home, however, remains in South Sudan; my dream is to go back there one day, if there will ever be peace,' she confides to us as she looks far away.

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Aics in Uganda intervenes with an emergency initiative aimed at promoting the integration of displaced, returning and refugee South Sudanese populations. The project intervenes in the refugee camps of Adjumani district through the renovation of community centers for young people and women and the construction of new water supply systems. The initiative also promotes agricultural activities and trade to improve the income of refugee families; some activities specifically target the integration between refugees and host communities to support peaceful coexistence. The initiative started in September 2022 and has an expected duration of 20 months; it is implemented by Africa Mission - Cooperation and Development in consortium with the Jesuit Refugee Service.

Dadoma, 01.02.2023. Today, at the presence of the Ambassador of Italy in Tanzania, H.E. Marco Lombardi, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (Aics)  has delivered to the government of Tanzania some IT equipment, which was foreseen under the Aics-funded initiative named "Improvement of the National Statistical System and support for the creation of the Population Register".

The initiative, managed by the regional office of Aics headquartered in Nairobi aims to contribute to the strengthening of the Tanzanian national statistical system and the population register in two regions of the country, helping to build the information base necessary to govern the socio-economic development processes, to consolidate democratic institutions and to facilitate the formulation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes. In particular, the purchase of equipment, goods and services was managed directly by Aics Nairobi through the its country representative stationed in Dar el Salaam Paolo Razzini and is aimed at expanding services for the population register, training of the staff of the district offices of the two selected regions, raising awareness of the population on the importance of recording vital statistics.

The event was also reported by Giornale Diplomatico. The article is available here.

Nairobi, 8th december 2022 – This morning the 'SEMAKENYA II' program financed by the Italian Cooperation was officially launched at the Residence of the Italian Ambassador in Nairobi, H.E. Roberto Natali. The initiative will support the introduction of conservation agriculture practices and 'Climate Smart' technologies in Makueni County, located in one of the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya. The initiative is worth 2 million Euros and will be implemented through the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM Bari) in partnership with the Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization of Kenya (KALRO).

The event counted on the participation of the Governor of Makueni County, H.E. Mutula Kilonzo Jr, the Deputy Director of CIHEAM Bari, Biagio Di Terlizzi and the Managing Director of ENI Kenya, Enrico Tavolini. Among the participants, the Head of the Nairobi Regional Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), Giovanni Grandi, and various representatives of the Italian private sector, local institutions and civil society.

'SEMAKENYA II' will be 'a resilient path towards agroecology in Makueni County’ through the promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices and the valorisation of drought-tolerant local crops, such as legumes and tropical fruits, which also have a strong potential in terms of commercialization on the international markets. Planned activities include the introduction of a digital platform that will directly connect farmers and buyers, with the aim of ensuring a fairer business for farmers and a quality product for consumers.

'SEMAKENYA II' represents the first implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Eni Kenya and the Nairobi office of AICS in 2021, regarding the involvement of the "Italian System" of development cooperation and the private sector in the implementation of cooperation initiatives. SEMAKENYA II will contribute to the decarbonisation process implemented by ENI in the country through an initiative supporting the introduction of sustainable oil crops, such as castor, and the opening of processing plants for the extraction of industrial oil. The oil will be subsequently exported to Italy for the production of biofuels, opening up new income opportunities for local farmers.