In a new article, Jameel Observatory scientist Tahira Mohamed examines how multiple actors, networks, and other hidden dynamics shape drought and disaster response outcomes in Kenya.
Disasters in the Horn of Africa have become more frequent and protracted due to climate change and the compounding factors that restrict resource access, leading to severe food insecurity and livelihood losses. While governmental, international, and regional partners have made significant progress in adopting disaster management policies and frameworks, challenges remain.
Limited empirical attempts have been made to understand how diverse actors with differing goals and competing interests interact with one another and influence disaster management and development outcomes.
Drawing on qualitative data collected over two years, this paper explores the diverse practices within and across disaster management in the region, using Kenya as a case study, and focusing in particular on drought as a national disaster.
It investigates how multiple actors, networks, and other hidden dynamics shape disaster response outcomes. It establishes that various institutional barriers, rigid structures and mindsets, along with shifting priorities and insufficient resources, often result in fragmented drought responses, disjointed coordination, and siloed operations across multiple layers.
This study highlights the importance of paying attention to these dynamics and recognising them as key grounds for improvement. It advocates for more introspection and new approaches to collaboration rather than new policy frameworks.
Mohamed concludes by identifying critical disconnects between disaster management policies and institutions, as well as the actors responsible for implementing the policies.
These disconnects emerge from hidden dynamics and are only discernible via careful, network-wide examination of institutional relationships and practices.
In addressing these disconnects, there is a crucial need to capitalise on the kinds of ‘bonding’ relationships that foster trust and accountability. Ultimately, this is the only way to instil a broader sense of confidence in the relationship between data and action.
Overcoming financial, technological, and human resource constraints in disaster management requires that we rethink some of the fundamentals; there can never be sufficient resources to manage crises.
In this regard, capitalising on existing disaster management finance and instituting ways to enhance its operation are crucial. Equally vital is investing in local resources that support first responses rather than untimely aid. Such local responses include flexible mobility, redistributive solidarities such as zakat (a wealth tax), livestock transfers, and mutual informal social assistance, which people rely on to avert disasters. If carefully supported, such collective practices can help disaster-affected communities overcome crises, even in fragile, conflict-affected regions.
Future research and policy initiatives should find solutions to the protracted nature of policy implementation. Consideration should be given to methods of incentivising governmental and other policy-enabling institutions to reinforce existing institutional and systemic relationships rather than create redundant disaster management tools.
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Read the article: Mohamed, T.S. 2026. Institutional and policy networks in disaster management in the Horn of Africa: insights from Kenya. Disasters 50(1): e70031