Kenyan assessment finds 71% of displaced households in Moyale short of food

In Moyale, in Kenya's Marsabit County, 71 per cent of displaced households do not have enough food and 80 per cent named food as their most important need, according to a multi-agency Rapid Needs Assessment dated 3 November 2026. The government-led survey covered 758 households.

The National Government and the Marsabit County Government led the assessment, with the Department of Refugee Services and the National Drought Management Authority. IOM, the World Food Programme, UNHCR, UNICEF and the Kenya Red Cross Society were among the partners. Survey teams interviewed 439 households in five displacement sites and 319 displaced households living with host families on 29 and 30 October; 38 enumerators were trained for the work.

The survey was sampled on a population of 35,950 displaced people, based on estimates collected on 24 October by the Deputy County Commissioner of Moyale Sub-County: about 25,000 with host families and 10,950 in temporary sites. Other sources cited in a footnote put the number at around 50,000, because more people have arrived since the first estimate.

The report says there has been active conflict in the Oromia and Somali regions of Ethiopia since 18 October and that fighting was still going on at 3 November. Of the households that gave their place of origin, 96 per cent came from Ethiopia and 4 per cent from border areas within Moyale. Among those that gave a date, about three-quarters left between 21 and 23 October. Of all responding households, 91 per cent said their entire village had fled.

Children make up 58 per cent of the displaced, and 22 per cent are under five. Women and girls are 53 per cent. Women head 51 per cent of households, and the average household has 7.0 members.

Food shortage was similar for families in sites (70 per cent) and with hosts (73 per cent). It was highest at the Somare site (94 per cent) and the Taqwa Mosque site (87 per cent). In 70 per cent of households, income in the previous 30 days was KSh 5,000 or less; the assessment cites a Minimum Expenditure Basket for a family of six in Marsabit of KSh 20,206 a month as of March 2026. In all, 47 per cent of households had lost a source of livelihood.

In the sites, 74 per cent of households are sheltered in schools and 11 per cent sleep in the open; 54 households in all are in the open. The government has said schools reopen on 4 January 2027. In host areas, 68 per cent of displaced households live with relatives.

Forty-four per cent of households lack drinking water: 41 per cent in sites and 48 per cent in host areas. The share is 84 per cent at St. Mary's Catholic, 72 per cent at Somare and 70 per cent at Taqwa Mosque. No handwashing facility is available to 76 per cent of households, and no respondent at Taqwa Mosque or St. Mary's Catholic reported one. At the Oriental Mission Centre, the largest site with an estimated 7,123 people, latrines are at 1.5 per cent of what the Sphere humanitarian standard requires.

Of all households, 53 per cent cannot reach a nearby health centre. Of those, 49 per cent cited higher costs and 44 per cent drug stockouts. A pregnant or lactating woman is in 39 per cent of households.

Cash assistance is preferred by 86 per cent of households, but only 25 per cent have an M-Pesa-registered phone. Most household heads hold Ethiopian identity documents (Fayda or Kebele ID), which may not meet Kenyan SIM and mobile-money registration rules.

Overall, 34 per cent of households said they do not feel safe where they are. The figure was 83 per cent at Somare, and 60 per cent each at Taqwa Mosque and St. Mary's Catholic, against 4 per cent at the Oriental Mission Centre and 2 per cent at Harhosa Mixed Secondary School. The site results are indicative because some samples are small; the Taqwa Mosque site had been moved to Al Houda by 3 November.

For 52 per cent of households Moyale is not the final destination, and 41 per cent plan to stay. Of those planning to leave, 90 per cent (352 of 391) intend to return to Ethiopia once conditions allow, mostly to Oromia.

The report calls for food or multipurpose cash assistance to be scaled up at once, starting at Somare, Taqwa Mosque and St. Mary's Catholic; water trucking, handwashing stations and emergency latrines at the same three sites; mobile health and nutrition services; cash delivery for households without M-Pesa or Kenyan identification; emergency registration of new arrivals; and alternatives to school shelters before classes resume. Displacement sites hold about 30 per cent of the estimated population but 58 per cent of the sample, and the results are unweighted.