Evaluation Report on the Lake Turkana Fisheries Development Project: A Component Project of The Kenya/Norway Development Cooperation Programme. Evaluation Report 5.85..

Abstract

Efforts by the Kenya Fisheries Dept. to develop the Lake Turkana fishery started in 1961, in support of famine relief and rehabilitation measures then in progress. NORAD's assistance to Kenya's fisheries commenced in 1967 and specific aid to Lake Turkana and to the fishermen's co-operative society (TFCS) started in 1971. Since then NORAD has provided some 23 million NOK, of which about 12 million NOK was spent on establishing the buildings and plant for TFCS at Kalokol. Despite this level of assistance, development has not been as rapid or as sustainable as hoped. Initially most of the assistance was channelled through the Fisheries Dept, but for the past 10 years it went more directly to TFCS in consultation with the Ministry of Cop-operative Development (MOCD), with the Fisheries Dept. role being relegated very much into the background. The principal objectives of the project have been to improve living conditions amongst the poorer and most disadvantaged sections of the Turkana people of both sexes, through joint efforts in the development of the fisheries and to ensure that utilisation of the Lake's resources were kept in balance with its sustainable potential. As one result of the assistance rendered, TFCS has grown to a membership of around 5000, only about 300 of whom are women, but the society is still far from being a viable and self-sufficient enterprise. Members have little or no opportunity to participate in decision making, and there has been a great deal of adverse external interference in TFCS affairs to the detriment of member's interests. It also appears that the number of fishermen is about as many as the Lake's resources can safely support, especially at its present low level, and in all of these circumstances some redefinition of the project's objectives seems necessary for the future.