The effectiveness of development aid has been frequently questioned over the past decades as there has yet to be any notably positive differences in the receiving nations. This is due to the complexities of implementing a new policy without first understanding the proceedings of local culture and the lack of acceptance from the local population (Crewe & Harrison 1998, p.3). Criticisms that commonly arise from the implementation of development aid programs is the lack of poverty and inequality relief that was promised, particularly in areas such as food security (Pottier 1999, p.42). Many organisations such as the World Food Programme attempt to remedy this by working with the local governments and developing local infrastructure with the aim of making the countries self-sufficient in food security and nutrition (World Food Programme n.d.). The focus of this paper would be on the World Food Programme’s development aid endeavours in Kenya to combat the nation’s high poverty and malnourished population. The World Food Programme (WFP) was created through the United Nations initially to provide emergency hunger relief to various nations but their work in Kenya has evolved to include aiding in development. They seek to accomplish this through assisting the local government to increase its ability to sustain the food needs of its population by improving the local agricultural skills and infrastructure (World Food Programme n.d.). Nevertheless, this paper will argue that the development aid programs by the WFP are not effective in providing food security to Kenya because of the inefficient resource management, shortcomings of the top-down method and the dependency culture encouraged by these programs.
It is argued that the efforts carried out by the WFP in Kenya are ineffective in relieving the poverty of hunger as it is inefficient in its management of resources to combat the rough local climate. The management of resources and food security are interdependent as it allows the agriculture industry of a nation to experience continuous growth and withstand the unforgiving natural climate (Shiferaw, Freeman & Swinton 2005, p.5). For instance, even though Kenya’s main economy revolves around agriculture, their land lacks high profile soil which is suitable for farming on top of having scarce rainfall and extended periods of drought (Paron, Olago & Omuto (ed) 2013, pp.39-50, 165-179). Hence, efficient resource management during these periods is crucial as the food security is heavily reliant on natural forces. The WFP sought to counter this issue by repairing and building new dams with the aim of utilizing the water supply for household and agricultural practices (World Food Programme n.d.). This would, in theory, allow for the production of crops year round as well as sustain livestock that encourages soil fertility, thus mitigating the dependency of food security to the climate (Hooft, Wollen & Bhandari 2012, pp.13-15). However, the management of resources by the organizations, such as allocating more funds and labour to rebuilding dams rather than fertilizing the soil, are not effective in alleviating food security in Kenya as the production of agricultural goods did not see a significant increase since its implementation. This is stated as the production of rice only had a slight increase of 116473 MT in 2015 to 118150 MT in 2016 while wheat production dropped from 238600 MT in 2015 to 222400 MT in 2016 (Food Security Portal 2016). This is concerning as Kenya has a high yearly population growth rate of 2.5% as compared to nations such as Australia at only 1.6% which further promotes the poverty of hunger (World Bank n.d.). Therefore, establishing that the management of resources in Kenya by the WFP is not effective in alleviating food security. Despite that, some might counter-argue that there are already some significant results from these endeavours. An example of this is the USAID reports which stated that more than 236,676 Kenyans got access to safe water through these efforts which far surpassed the initial target of 208,333 (USAID 2018). This is counter-argued to show the effectiveness of the programs in managing available resources such as water and livestock to aid in the alleviation of food security and malnutrition based poverty. Even though the success of providing sanitary water to the locals and agriculture should be commended, the argument that resources are not efficiently managed still stands as the drought seasons between the months of June to September would not provide sufficient rainfall to refill the dams and sustain the crops. This causes food levels to decline as well as agricultural and livestock-related labour to reduce, which leads to the poorer section of the population being excluded from purchasing food due to the high prices of crops during that period. Thus showing that food insecurity is still prevalent in Kenya despite the efforts of the WFP’s efforts to maintain water supply year round. Therefore, the WFP is not effective in providing food security because their efforts to efficiently manage resources are still inadequate in combating the natural climate of Kenya.
Furthermore, the actions of the WFP are argued to be ineffective in bringing about food security due to the shortcomings of the top-down method of the WFP. The top-down method is defined by Amir Zal, Omar & Salleh (2016) to be a practice by development aid organisations that commonly neglect the perspective of the locals in favour of a set development plan. An example of this method in practice is WFP’s plan to develop Kenya into a more self-sustaining nation with hopes of alleviating food security. This was carried out by assisting the smallholder farmers in gaining the knowledge and skills required to produce sufficient food for the community (World Food Programme n.d.). Even though the program is well-intentioned and seemed feasible, the WFP failed to take into account the political and cultural proceedings of land ownership which would have been better understood if local perspectives were considered. An instance of the lack of local awareness by the WFP is the high corruption rate in Kenya which is able to not only hinder economic growth but increases inequality and poverty among its citizens as well, thus further causing the insecurity of food (Hensen 2010, pp. 451-453). In Kenya, land ownership is subjected to high amounts of corruption which allows the powerful to seize and demolish property without prior notice, hence causing the poor farmers to be unable to carry out the plans prescribed to them by the WFP (GAN Business Anti-Corruption 2017; Nairobi 2010). With this, it can be understood that merely imposing a set plan on the locals is not effective without first considering the political environment of the nation. Contrariwise, some may argue that the WFP did, in fact, practice a participatory method of development in which growth would be better executed through positive relations and cooperation between the developers and locals (Eversole 2003, pp.781-783). This is counter-argued as the WFP have practised a participatory approach to their development aid efforts since 2014 and claimed to be implemented in future projects (Lena 2014). The first of this being in Lesotho in 2014 which allowed the Basotho community to be a part of the development planning process which gives them ownership over the process and the skill to continue it (Lena 2014). However, this is rather concerning as there has been little to no further information about their participatory approach efforts in countries such as Kenya. Even though it was stated by the WFP that they are working with the Kenyan government to strengthen its ability to be self-sufficient, inputs by the locals were not reported to be part of the plan while training the local farmers. Such an outcome may be interpreted that the two parties refused to cooperate, allowing the dominant party to assume control and thus mimicking the top-down approach once again (Eversole 2003, pp.787-788). This can occur due to a lack of trust between the two parties because of the colonial history that the development aid may embody as a means to regain control (Escobar 1995). Therefore, the WFP is ineffective in bringing about food security in Kenya because of the application of the top-down approach and the ambiguous participatory approach to development aid.
In addition, the efforts carried out by the WFP to alleviate food security in Kenya has been argued to be ineffective as it has encouraged a dependency culture among the locals. The dependency culture occurs when the receiving party becomes reliant on the benefits that have been provided to them by a foreign organisation that far improves their current living situation such as food security and sanitized water (Sahoo 2013, pp. 258-272; Lempert 2015). Such an arrangement can be identified in Kenya through the WPF’s efforts to alleviate food security by providing the locals with credit in order to buy food when prices are raised during the drought season as a means of reducing starvation and also to stimulate the nation’s economy (World Food Program n.d.). However, these initiatives made the local population complacent about their situation due to the saturation of help given to them for free (Nairobi 2010). This is problematic to not just the progression of the development aid programs but also the dangers the country faces when the aid provided ends as the prior issues would return once again at a possibly larger scale. This is shown in Kenya as instead of figuring out alternative methods to alleviate food security, especially during drought seasons, a less self-sustaining culture is born which undercuts the aim of the WFP. An example of this is the country of India where the progress in poverty alleviation in the nation is undone after the aid program has ended due to the locals' over-reliance on the benefits and their inability to progress on their own (Sahoo 2013, pp. 258-272). Regardless, some would counter-argue that the WFP’s efforts to stimulate the economy and reduce starvation mimics the capability approach to development. The capability approach is defined as a method of approaching development aid by providing the locals with the ability to obtain the basic needs and equality rather than blindly handing it to them (Sen 1993). By allowing the locals to gain the capability to be self-sufficient, the development program should be able to continue even without the presence of a foreign entity. This can be noted as the aim of the WFP’s development aid program in Kenya as seen by their efforts in providing training to farmers and cash transfer to purchase food as well as develop the economy. Not only that, the WFP has even taken steps to counter the inequality in a household that was prevalent in Kabeer’s (1994) reports about Bangladesh’s poverty and inequality by providing the young children, pregnant and nursing women specially fortified food and supplies (World Food Program n.d.). Despite that, it can be seen that many locals may not be able to identify this opportunity and improve their circumstances from it, thus causing the dependency culture to run rampant again. Therefore, the development aid efforts by the WFP is not effective as it encourages a dependency culture among the citizens of Kenya, causing the attempts for development to be undone.
To conclude, the World Food Programmes’ development aid efforts in Kenya are not effective due to various factors including their inefficient resource management, especially during the harsh climates. This is due to Kenya’s infertile land and climates that make sustaining a steady supply of food through agriculture though, thus more attention needs to be given to maintaining resources during the drought seasons. The WFP’s efforts in building and repairing dams show the lack of understanding of the Kenyan natural region and assume that the same development aid processes can be applied everywhere. With this, the WFP’s method of development aid mimics the top-down approach which causes it to be ineffective. Even though they claim to apply the participatory approach, not much evidence was present to support that. Therefore, it may be assumed that the development efforts may have been taken over by the dominant party which once again renders their efforts ineffective. Not only that, but such a process also encourages the dependency culture among the locals. This causes the programme to be ineffective in the long-run as the locals are not equipped with the sufficient and adequate knowledge to carry on developing without foreign aid. Nevertheless, the results and processes of the WFP’s efforts in development aid should be more transparent in order to gain a definitive answer about the issues they face. This would aid future anthropologist to develop a more effective programme to address these prevailing issues such as food security, poverty and inequality. Hence, development aid programs can be executed more effectively in the future by studying the contemporary issues encountered by organisations such as the World Food Program.
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