Factors exacerbating vulnerabilities to food insecurity among the - - PDF document

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Factors exacerbating vulnerabilities to food insecurity among the Maasai community living in Kajiado County Caroline Wainaina1; Elizabeth Kimani-Murage1; Frederick Wekesah1.2; Teresia Njoki1; Milka Njeri1; Betty Samburu2; Lucy Gathigi2; Paula Griffiths3; Sophie Goudet3; Claudia Mitchell4 ;

1African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) 2Julius Global Health, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht

Medical center, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

3 Ministry of Health, Kenya 4 Loughborough University, United Kingdom 5 McGill University, Canada

Corresponding Author Caroline Wainaina, MSc. Email address: carowangoi@yahoo.com Abstract People are considered food secure when they have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. In a previous public engagement project among the Maasai community living in Kajiado County, food insecurity was identified as a major factor affecting nutrition, particularly among pregnant, breastfeeding women and infants. The main objective of this study was to get a deeper understanding of food insecurity as it affects women and children in Kajiado County. The study used participatory action research approach. Key factors affecting food security include: environmental factors, whereby the land is dry most of the year hence unable to support crop farming, leading to food unavailability, and scarcity of portable water, limiting optimal food utilization; nomadic lifestyle in such of green pasture for livestock, limiting food accessibility; limited access to food due to drought which affect their livestock; socio-cultural factors that limit women’s food-related autonomy. It is important for community to embrace other alternatives for livelihood, including farming and government support in irrigation to improve food access and availability. Women empowerment is needed to enhance their food related autonomy.

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Background Individuals are considered food secure when they have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life1. Food security has four pillars: i) availability, which means that sufficient quantity of appropriate food is physically available from own production, commercial imports or food assistance2; ii) access to food - which means that income or other resources are adequate to obtain sufficient and appropriate food through home production, buying, bartering and gathering among others. Lack of access to adequate and diversified diet results in various forms of nutritional problems1; iii) utilization which includes biological use, and is linked to a person’s health. Food utilization is affected by appropriate food processing and storage practices, adequate knowledge and application of nutrition and child care principles, and adequate health and sanitation services3; and iv) sustainability of the three pillars above. In Kenya, 10 million people, i.e. a quarter of the population are food insecure, particularly those who live in arid and semi-arid regions, with high poverty levels and accessibility problems due to issues like poor infrastructure 4,5. The Maasai community lives in the semi-arid parts of Kenya. Perennial droughts and hunger due to water and food shortages respectively have led to malnutrition, diseases and deaths among the Maasai community for many years now 4. Many interventions have been initiated to mitigate the situation, including food aid, provision of water for irrigation farming and watering livestock through sinking of boreholes. These actions, although noble, have not achieved the intended impact and the food insecurity situation continues

• unabated. In finding ways in which the situation can be changed, it is important to employ

innovative methods in understanding three key factors; a) how food is made available to people in the community; b) how the community economically and physically accesses food; and c) how food is utilized when available. Understanding the constraints underlying each of these factors is a necessary condition for designing and implementing appropriate and effective food insecurity strategies.

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Aim of the study This engagement sought to gain a deeper understanding of the vulnerability to food insecurity in the Maasai community in Kajiado, Kenya, particularly among pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children under-five years old. Specific objectives

• 1. Establish their lived experiences with regards to food insecurity in order to

understand the exacerbating factors that lead to vulnerability to food insecurity particularly for women and children; and

• 2. Establish community’s perception of solutions to the food insecurity; and
• 3. Devise a potential action plan to be shared by implementers at the community,

sub-county and county levels. Methodology The project used participatory action research methods to engage the community including the use of participatory video and photovoice, along with in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs) and community dialogues. The participants included pregnant women and or breastfeeding others, older and younger fathers/spouses in the community; older mothers and grandmothers; community leaders and representatives; health care workers and provider and community-based

• rganizations representatives (see table 1). The participants were mobilized from two

communities of Oloika and Lenkobei of Shompole, Kajiado County and their details are presented in Table 2. Qualitative interviews aimed to get a rich description of the food and nutrition security situation in the community, including equitable measures of food in the households in terms of adequacy, quality, quantity, diversity, accessibility, availability of nutritious food, social support systems and availability and accessibility of water in the community. Photovoice Photovoice as an innovative participatory community engagement method that ensures active participation of their members in documenting real life experiences, especially that

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• f the women and children with regard to food and nutrition insecurity. The community

was divided into three groups; 6 young women, 6 mixed group of young women and men; 6 community health volunteers. The teams were then trained separately on the use of the cameras, objective of the study, importance of capturing their real/actual situations that showcased food and nutrition insecurity in the community. They were then taken through the consenting process, to enable us use the photos they take for research purposes. Group discussions following photovoice Group discussions were held with the women at the end of the exercise to discuss/ describe the issues represented in the photos taken, in which the technique SHOWeD (What do you See here? What is really Happening? How does this relate to Our lives? Why does this problem or strength exist? What can we Do about it) was used to guide the discussions. In this technique, the mothers described what they saw in the photos taken, and how it relates to their lives and what could be done to improve the situation portrayed in the photos6. Participatory video The community was also engaged in creating participatory videos on the food and nutrition insecurity situation in the community, highlighting the plight of their women and

• children. The participatory video was used to explore problems, to come up with potential

solutions and communication to decision/policy makers within Kajiado County. Community dialogues The community dialogue with community members and community leaders was held to establish the situation of food and nutrition in the community as well as, what challenges if any that the community has had as regards food security, factors exacerbating vulnerability, and ways of mitigation using locally available skills and resources. The findings from the community dialogue was used to review and validate the findings from photovoice, participatory video and the qualitative interviews. We used the productions coming out of the community engagement in the form of photo exhibitions and participatory video, in addition to the data obtained through the

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discussions to engage the potential change agents including community-based

• rganizations and the County government, as well as other decision-makers to enhance

their awareness on food and nutrition insecurity issues and together devise action plans and potential solutions to the problem. Through this forum, the community members were given an opportunity to voice their problems and suggest potential solutions to policy and decision-makers in the County, including the government and community-based

• rganizations and non-governmental organizations.

Table 1: Types of interviews and participants involved Type of interview Participants Participants In-depth interviews Breastfeeding mothers and pregnant Women 8 Fathers 2 Older women/grandmothers 4 Focus group discussions Breastfeeding and pregnant Women 24 Fathers 24 Community leaders 8 Key informant interviews Community-based organization representative 2 Community leader 1 Administrative leader/Chief 1 Health care worker/provider 1 Community dialogue Community representatives 25 Stakeholder dialogue County and Sub-County officials, NGOs, CBOs and community representatives 25 Total number of participants 125

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Table 2: Participant description characteristics Category Number Age/age-group Older Youth (16-19) 10 Young Adults (20-34) 55 Adults (35-64) 50 Adults (65+) 10 Sex Male 60 Female 65 Marital status Married 90 Single 6 Unknown 25 Education status No education 50 Primary 21 Secondary and above 54 Employment No employment 35 Self-employment 60 Formally employed 30 Number of children (women) None xxx <5 17 >5 10 Data processing and analysis a) Data from interviews, focus group discussions and community dialogue Audios were transcribed verbatim and saved in MS Word format. Transcripts were imported into NVivo software (QSR International Pty Ltd) for coding and further analysis. The researchers familiarized themselves with the data by listening to audio-tapes and reading through transcribed records. The initial data collected from the community engagement was used to develop of an initial coding scheme which was further developed/ modified during coding of the data in NVivo. Primary coding of the transcripts

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in NVivo was undertaken. Following this, meta-codes and themes were identified, while paying attention to contradiction and diversity. Analysis across all transcripts were done thematically7. b) Data from photovoice and participatory video The photos collected by the mothers were used to initiate discussions on the issues represented in the photos taken. The discussions were recorded and then transcribed

• verbatim. The data was then analyzed using NVivo software as described above. Data

from participatory video was transcribed by the transcriber listening to the recordings and translated into English and analyzed using NVivo software, as described above. The video as a tool in itself was used to convey messages from the community to the target audiences including the county government officials and policy makers at the local and County level. Findings Food availability Food availability is hindered majorly by environmental and socioeconomic factors. The Maasai community relies on livestock keeping and selling as their main source of

• livelihood. The availability (or lack) of adequate food in the household was explained by

the number of livestock that a household owned. The bigger the number of livestock a household owned, the higher their access to food. The community perceived those with less livestock to have insufficient access to food. Nevertheless, this only source of livelihood and food for most households was affected by the perennial drought that made pasture and water dried out, consequently leading to emaciated animals that would fetch very little when sold and would therefore affect incomes and money available to purchase

• f food.

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“Photo shows a child looking after some few sheep….. These (few sheep) are the only resources they have and the family entirely depends on them. So am very sure these sheep will not sustain the needs of this family hence the recommended balance diet cannot be available in this family due to the level of poverty” (Community health volunteer, during validation of findings at the Community dialogue). Food accessibility Accessibility to food was affected by: nomadic pastoralism, with frequent cyclic migrations in search of water and grass for the animals which limited access to food markets and to healthier food choices for the families; poor road infrastructure and long distances to food markets; high prices for food due to the poor roads, hence limiting food access to the community. “Migration affects us because when we go far places we shall never be closer to the market so getting food will be a problem”... (Young women, Photovoice)…. You find most of our people

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find places that is suitable for our livestock not the people, so will move them to that place whereby it will be far from the market.” KII, CBO representative. Food utilization Water is a major component in food utilization in the house. Due to drought, water becomes a challenge, with women being forced to walk long distances to look for and fetch water. Most of the water used during the drought is dirty as the sources are often also used to water their animals. With the distance to water sources being long, and the water being of poor quality and of high demand in the household, the water available for food preparation is limited. “We also have problems in accessing water because where we fetch is far so if I lack water in my household and I had a little flour that I kept for my family I will not cook food so that’s one

• f our major problem in accessing food” “we only have one jerrican and some of us don’t have

donkeys to carry our water so we can only get 20 liters which the family uses in the household for cooking, cleaning and livestock. The water is not enough for all of our needs.” Older women, Photovoice. Sociocultural factors Women in Maasai community have many roles including cooking the food, but according to them it’s the husband who buys the food, hence the decision on what to buy is solely

• his. This causes the women not to have a direct input on feeding practices in the

household in terms of food variety, food composition and food quantity. Women are not

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allowed to slaughter or sell animals, hence in the absence of their husbands, they are forced to borrow from their neighbors. This leads to insufficient food for themselves and their children. The women are also not allowed to farm on their own or sell in markets without permission from their husbands. The (married) women need to seek permission or approval from their husbands before carrying out businesses including trading in the livestock. This has left most of the women with diminished autonomy and reduced financial independence, which in turn has influenced their participation and decision making in food issues in their

• homes. However, the situation is now changing, and women are increasingly being

allowed to participate in these activities with husband’s approval, particularly if in groups. “Women nowadays are great assistants at the household level as they also do some small business to support their families unlike long time when they were not allowed. Long-time their work was to bear children and look after animals” (Community health volunteer, Photovoice). The interviews with the pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers painted the picture that they had been the beneficiary of better cultural practices. In the past the pregnant women were not allowed to eat a lot of food as it was believed that this could bring complications during birth, this in consideration that majority of the mothers delivered from home with the aid of the traditional birth attendants. According to a study conducted in

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the Maasai community, it was reported that due to cultural practices, the Maasai pregnant women were only allowed to eat one non-fatty food per day during the last trimester to retard growth of the unborn baby. 8With time the community has embraced better nutrition practices for the pregnant women though due to the hardships in the area, the priority for who eats first still goes to the children and the man of the house, whatever remains is what is eaten by the woman. Breastfeeding mothers seem to be cared for more than the pregnant women are required to eat more to provide milk supply for the baby. “Mothers who have given birth are the ones taken care off than pregnant mothers, in our culture this area of not taking care of pregnant mothers we have failed because they are not much concentrated on them compared to breastfeeding mothers” (KII, CBO representative). “I (pregnant woman) may not eat enough food when there is no enough food in house so I have to eat little so that my children can eat to satisfactory” (FGD, young mothers). Discussion Food and nutrition insecurity in the Maasai community was evident through the findings

• f the engagement. Some of the factors that exacerbate the situation of food insecurity

were captured in the in-depth interviews with the various stakeholders and also through the participatory methods, photovoice and participatory video. The sociocultural issues have been a hindrance to the empowerment of women in such pastoralists’ communities. The autonomy of women is an important factor in establishing food security in households. Many programs have been established in the communities to empower the women so that they can participate in decision making in the households especially in this case concerning food and nutrition. Micro enterprise services, table banking are some of the ways the women indicated being able to save or access funds to start businesses. With some financial independence, they were able to purchase food required in the homes. This was besides the challenges encountered of having to seek permission from the husbands to participate in the businesses or the literacy level as a result of not attending school.

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The climatic conditions have been shown to hamper accessibility to food and nutritious foods in migrant communities, this is because the pastoralist’s communities have to keep moving to look for green pasture for the livestock, hence moving away from basic amenities like food markets. According to Oiye et.al, the migration by the communities currently seem to lead them to exposure to foods from other areas including vegetables and fruits which were rarely eaten by the Maasai in the past9. This can be seen as positive as it then leads to improved food and nutrition security due to the diverse types of foods that the communities are exposed to and consume. Food utilization is the third pillar to ensure food security in the population3. This is normally affected by the processing of food and its storage and how it is used up in the households. The availability and accessibility of clean and safe water to improved food security cannot be emphasized enough 10. There is need to improve availability and accessibility to clean water as it plays a major role in provision of adequate food and in turn improves health and nutrition status10. The information from the Maasai indicated that there is lack of clean safe water especially during drought. This was shown to impede the preparation of some foods due to competing demands for the water by both the household and the livestock. For the communities to be then food and nutrition secure, there is need for the three pillars to be sustainable. This involves not only the household food situation but also the environment factors and its impact on sustainable food production. Sustainable strategies should focus on policy and investment reforms targeted at improving the other three pillars of food security and factors associated. Hence policy actions should address not

• nly increase in food production but also economic capability and reduced poverty of the

poor 11. Food stability as a factor of food security is the ground on which the three other pillars; food availability, food accessibility and food utilization pillars of food security stand

• n. This means for sustainability of the pillars to be actualized there is need to ensure

food stability, this can be through improved education and awareness; ecological intensification, international market stability, agricultural biodiversity and economic policy12

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Conclusion For the migrant communities to enjoy food and nutrition security, there is need for concerted efforts from the communities, the community representatives, government and non-governmental agencies to ensure that the four pillars of food security are actualized. Improving more water catchment areas to harvest and trap water during the high rains to provide the much needed water for crop framing and their livestock to the communities. Alternative livelihood such as businesses or crop farming to be encouraged in order to reduce overreliance on livestock trading which keeps being affected by environmental conditions and influence food adequacy in households. Crop farming with support in irrigation should be advocated for as one of the alternatives to provision of food in the

• community. This has been shown to succeed in such semi-arid areas and therefore can

provide the much needed healthy foods and closer to the communities. Community’s recommendations As an objective to the engagement, the community proposed solutions to mitigate the challenges exacerbating the food and nutrition insecurity. They also proposed the people who should implement the solutions. The solutions suggested included;  Provide support including; supplying irrigation equipment and training of the community members in crop farming to reduce overreliance on livestock trading, to be implemented by the Government agencies.  Sinking of more boreholes and other catchment areas to enhance access to portable water for the community and ease the burden for women, this was directed to Government agencies.  Empowerment of women through business skills training and financing of business startups, directed to Government and Non-governmental agencies.  Increasing awareness on male involvement aimed at both promoting women autonomy but also learning more about issues around food security, directed at Government, Non-governmental agencies and community representatives.

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