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Kenya – child survival programming in action

It’s good to be back in Nairobi – a place that has bookmarked my career as a regular stop over point at various times over the last 18 years of my career responding to humanitarian disasters. We’re quickly through the formalities and then a cab takes us to the office. It ‘s nice to see so many familiar faces in one place.

Castro, our logistician, gives us a team security briefing on arrival — the usual “be careful” messages about the big city. Then we go straight into an en-masse briefing on the current programme with Catherine, the deputy Country Director, and Matt, our regional emergencies advisor. I’m very impressed by the vast effort that has gone into fundraising and programme scale-up. We really seem to be making good headway in building up the overall response. I feel a real sense of pride in this, as the emergencies section has been heavily engaged since we re-opened the programme in 2006.

In the afternoon, the agenda moves onto the wider Alliance question and what more we could be doing in other parts of Kenya. We agree to issue a “call to arms” to all members to continue and strengthen their support. I feel a genuine sense of opportunity and energy. I really believe we can make this a flagship operation for child survival, and the donors are looking to us to step up to the plate.

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