KRAPID+
Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development Plus Programme
Strategic Pillar: Resilience
Effective response and resilient recovery that safeguard dignity and prioritize inclusion. CARE Kenya delivers life-saving assistance during crises, expands water access and sanitation infrastructure, and links relief to long-term recovery. This places women's leadership at the heart of humanitarian action.
Programme Goal
Improve access to safe and sustainably managed water and rangelands in RAPID+ counties, contributing to resilient livelihoods for communities in a peaceful environment.
Program Highlights
200K
People with improved water & rangeland access
150K
Benefiting from water (Outcome 1)
50K
Pastoralists — rangeland (Outcome 2)
Context and Rationale
Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) — covering over 80% of the country’s land mass — are home to pastoralist communities facing acute and chronic challenges: recurrent drought, water scarcity, degraded rangelands, resource-based conflicts, and marginalisation from national development.
The October–December 2025 short rains brought near-to-below average rainfall, leaving over 3.3 million people in IPC Phase 3 (crisis) or above. RAPID+ builds on the successful USD 31 million RAPID programme (2015–2021) funded by SDC and USAID.
Programme Outcomes
Water Access
Pastoralist communities will have increased access to sustainable and safe water for multiple uses (targeting 150,000 people, 90% rural and 10% peri-urban).
Rangeland Health
Pastoralist communities will have improved access to safe and ecologically healthy rangeland resources that promote greater integrity, social cohesion, and gender equity (targeting 50,000 pastoralists).
Theory of Change
IF access to sustainable and safe water for multiple uses is improved AND access to safe, ecologically healthy rangeland resources is strengthened through strong public, private, and community institutions — THEN communities will have increased income, gender equity, empowerment, enhanced livestock systems, a more peaceful environment, conserved ecosystems, and improved health status — THEREFORE resilient livelihoods that promote peaceful cohesion and gender equity will be achieved.
Key Programme Areas
Market Systems Development (MSD)
Gender Transformative Approaches
Peace Building Initiatives
Process Documentation
Location: Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, Turkana, and Wajir Counties
Implementation Approach
RAPID+ adopts a Project Implementation by Facilitation Approach (PIFA) through the Programme Hub and County Coordinating Units (CCUs). This involves co-location of implementing partner staff within relevant county government departments for enhanced resource sharing. The approach brings together stakeholders and delegates programme implementation to county structures, service providers, and consultants.
Governance is structured through a Programme Steering Committee (PSC) at national level and County Programme Steering Committees (CPSCs) in each of the 5 counties, supported by bi-annual Programme Management and Learning Group (PMG) meetings for adaptive management.