Laikipia County Devices Safe Food Distribution Model

The Laikipia County Government has come up with a system to distribute food to the needy that is fair, ensures social distance and won’t need to go through administrators.
The Program dubbed “Lishafamilia” initiative was tested over the weekend with a small number of targeted households in Kanyoni village, Nanyuki ward and found to be working.
A number of targeted households received electronic vouchers on their mobile phone indicating where and the time one is to collect their ration.
The pilot households were able to redeem their e-vouchers and collect foodstuff from a designated point conveniently and without crowding, neither was there the push and pull common during relief food distribution.
The County is targeting 40,000 vulnerable households who will receive their food ratios in this manner, enabling them to observe the government’s social distancing guidelines.
The initiative is using data from the household economic survey captured through M-Jali, when the County government was registering households for universal healthcare, through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) scheme and from the national governments cash transfer program as well as from hospitals to establish people in need and those with pre-existing conditions.
National Government administration officers together with Nyumba kumi members are also involved in confirming and updating the data.
The Initiative has enabled the County government to use verified data to carry out the interventions and eliminate allegation of unfairness, nepotism, political affiliations and even theft.
A team drawn from the community was involved in cleaning up and processing all data to ensure the food support goes to only deserving cases.
“We are doing this so that only the targeted beneficiaries get the support. We will not need brokers to come up with lists of beneficiaries as it has been the case in past, as we are using verified data collected scientifically,” Governor Ndiritu Muriithi told the team verifying the database of the household.
By Margaret Kirera