Evaluation of the Impact of County Climate Change Fund on Community Resilience to Climate Change in Garissa County, Kenya

Abstract

Climate change is a major threat to the livelihoods of communities in the Arid and Semi- Arid Lands (ASALS) in Kenya since they depend on climate related resources. To caution ASALS dwellers against the shocks related to the vagaries of climate change, resources are allocated to build community resilience from the Government and development partners. Such resources include County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) which has been released to five counties including Garissa. This study sought to evaluate the impact of CCCF on community resilience to climate change in Garissa County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the impact of county climate change fund on economic resilience to climate change in Goreale Ward of Garissa County, establish the impact of county climate change fund on infrastructure resilience to climate change and to find out the impact of county climate change fund on natural resource management in the ward. Goreale Ward of Garissa County is one of the beneficiaries of CCCF. The study targeted 1.571 households from Goreale Ward of Garissa which was the study location. In addition, the 33 ward planning committee members, the village elders of the 4 villages making up Goreale Ward were considered besides the two county representatives of the funds and two Womankind in charge of CCCF were targeted. A descriptive survey design was adopted in the study. Yamane formula was used to sample 318 CCCF beneficiaries while respondents from the remaining categories were purposively sampled. The 318 households were sampled through simple random methods in order to give each household an equal chance with reduced sampling bias. The data collection instruments in the study were a semi-structured questionnaire, interview guide as well as focused group discussion guide. Therefore, both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. The qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis while quantitative data was analyzed through Spearman Rank-order correlations and descriptive statistics methods. For the quantitative methods, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24 was used. The findings of the study showed that CCCF fund has minimally ensured economic resilience, infrastructure resilience and natural resource management in Garissa County. Additionally, the findings indicated that the relationship between participatory planning, social inclusion and accountability in CCCF and economic resilience was positive and significant but weak (r=0.114. 0.141 and 0.350: P- value < 0.05) respectively. Moreover, the relationship between participatory planning. social inclusion and accountability in CCCF and infrastructure resilience was positive and significant but weak (r=0.486, 0.249 and 0.123; P-value < 0.05) respectively. It was also established that the relationship between participatory planning, social inclusion and accountability in CCCF and natural resource management was positive and significant but weak (r = 0.333, 0.125 and 0.109; P-value < 0.05) respectively. The study concluded that the initiatives implemented through CCCF have realized economic resilience. infrastructure resilience and natural resource management to a low extent. There is therefore a need to enhance participatory planning, social audit and accountability of CCCF in order to ensure efficiency in utilization of the fund which can result to stronger and higher impact on both economic as well as infrastructure resilience to climate change and also natural resource management.