The County Executive Committee Member (CECM) of Health and Sanitation, Dr Joseph Epem Wednesday met with a delegation from the USAID funded Nawiri Program to discuss the restart of its projects in Turkana County between now and September 2025.
In a meeting that included 10 directors and deputy directors from the department, the Nawiri team shared that they were keen to restart key projects across the county on a reduced scale in collaboration with the county government.
“We have resources to run the key projects on a reduced scale until the end of September. We do not, however, have official communication on what happens after September,” said Nawiri Field Director, Gabriel Ekuwam.
Citing the impact the Nawiri program has had on the residents, Dr Epem shared his relief at the program’s restart despite the reduced scale.
“We expect a project brief that would guide us on the specific areas that Nawiri will now be focusing on in order for us to know the new funding gaps,” he said.
Peter Ingolan, the County Engagement Manager at Nawiri, shared that there will be a shift in resource management with a focus on sub-county level.
“Our current request is to utilize the county government staff members at the sub-county level who have the needed skills and knowledge,” he said.
CECM Dr Epem also stated that the journey to self-reliance as a government is ongoing, requiring a government-to-government business approach.
“As we embrace self-reliance, let us also adopt government-to-government funding so that when a donor exits the funding gap is clear and the government is well-placed to take over,” he added.
Speaking at the briefing, Directorate of Policy, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, James Lobokan said the mandate of the county government is to work on projects that improve the quality of lives of the people.
Also present in the meeting were Mark Lominito (Health and Nutrition Lead Turkana, Nawiri) and Shariff Abdalla (Program Manager, Save The Children International Turkana).
By Peter Gitonga
