Director General of DG ECHO (the European Commission Directorate-General Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection office), Monique Pariat Visits Kakuma

The Director General of DG ECHO (the European Commission Directorate-General Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection office), Monique Pariat was on a one day visit to Kakuma Camp.

The DG was accompanied by an ECHO delegation from the Brussels headquarters and Nairobi offices. The UNHCR Kenya Country Representative and staff from the Nairobi office accompanied the mission, together with the UNICEF Kenya Chief of Operations, IRC Country Director and WFP Deputy Country Director.

The prime objective of the DG’s mission was to get her familiarized with camp operations and DG ECHO funded projects, as this was her first visit to the camp.

ECHO is a key donor and has provided substantial and extensive support to the refugee operations in the country in various sectors including WASH, child protection, health, food, nutrition and El Nino preparedness.

The DG made a courtesy call at the Sub County Commissioner’s office and was later briefed by the government representative and the Officer in Charge of the Kakuma operation.

She congratulated the government for the strong and consistent response and hospitality extended to refugees over the years. She applauded the efforts to establish a new settlement in Kalobeyei and encouraged UNHCR and partners to work together to ensure the initiative for fostering integrated living between refugee and host communities is successful.

The Country Representative reiterated her sentiments and mentioned that Kenya is indeed one of the countries that has been very friendly to refugee operations and is “one of the countries in the world that has provided asylum to so many people for such a long time.”

The DG later visited various parts of the camp, including some of the ECHO funded projects such as the health posts, shelter and WASH facilities. She interacted with a number of refugees and got some useful insights on their coping mechanisms in the camp. She also met with the partners and discussed with them possibilities of working even more towards finding innovative and sustainable solutions to protracted refugee situations.

She congratulated the partners for their efforts in providing protection and essential services to refugees in a coordinated manner. She encouraged the agencies to keep up the good work and reaffirmed ECHO’s continued support to the refugee operations in the country.

By Cathy Wachiaya, Kakuma Refugee Camp