In the second half of 2011, Kenya witnessed one of the worst droughts in the recent past, which was exacerbated by high inflation, rising fuel prices and a weakened economy. Though poor households in Nairobi's informal settlements are vulnerable during emergencies, they are often ignored by the government and relief agencies. Oxfam conducted this market baseline assessment to identify the crisis' impacts on the maize, water and credit markets. To help ensure adequate maize consumption by vulnerable households, this assessment suggests cash grants for small shops, posho mills and food vendors, cooked food vouchers for vulnerable households, cash grants for very poor households (with in-kind food aid as a fallback) and advocacy for social protection programming and increased transparency regarding maize market activity. For the water market system, the report recommends increasing the water supply, improving household-level water storage, improving household purchasing power, creating more CBOs, pressuring NWSC to enforce its rules and regulations, offering cash grants and vouchers, water tankering, providing water treatment options and constructing pipelines from boreholes to water vendors. For the credit market system, this assessment recommends advocating for safety nets and ID registration for poor households, linking with institutions that could provide grants for the poor, promoting savings groups and providing cash grants to poor households and small traders.
