Social construction of food aid and its influence on social relationships in Turkana County, Kenya

Abstract

Food aid has become a major mechanism for stabilizing domestic supplies in food- insecure countries and targeting food supply to alleviate hunger and food insecurity. Food donations account for approximately one-tenth of all food transfers to developing countries. Various governmental and private organizations have participated in distribution of food aid to communities. However, few studies document how food aid has influenced the recipients understanding of food aid and how this understanding influences social relationships at the household level. This study is therefore aimed to investigate households’ understanding of food aid and contextual factors that influence the meaning of food aid and how this affects social relationships at the household level among residents of Turkana County. This study adopted a case study design which was guided by social construction theory. The potential study participants were identified from households that were beneficiaries of food aid and sampled using snowballing technique to saturation at 45 households. Participants’ data was collected using in-depth and key-informant interviews as well as focus group discussions. The recorded information was then transcribed and analyzed thematically. This study reports that food aid is understood differently in various contexts such as a savior, promoter of self-interest, political vehicle, demeaning, agent of mobility and as a source of worry and uncertainty. Furthermore, the participants had varying perception on food insecurity as an agent of conflict used in the erosion of culture, for corrupt and business dealings, an agent of dictatorship but also a source of livelihood diversification. It can be concluded that food insecurity and resultant food aid is a major source of household conflict in Turkana County as it not only destabilizes the social balance in the community but is also a tool for community manipulation. The study recommends enhanced community participation by humanitarian organizations, strengthened auditing initiatives on humanitarian organizations, diversification of income sources among residents of Turkana County as well as the creation of more sustainable livelihood coping strategies by both governmental and humanitarian organizations on food insecurity coping strategies. As a policy implication, the findings of this study demonstrate that there is need for legal, legislative and societal reforms on communal understanding of food aid and adoption of existing coping strategies. The theoretical implication of these study findings is that social construction theories are useful in the understanding of food insecurity as a social problem. Socially constructed meanings influence human behavior creating the need to deconstruct the meanings that societies bestow on food aid as an initial stage in mitigating food insecurity.