The long rainy season in Kenya got off to a relatively good start in March, according to an update from FEWS Net. While the precipitation has begun to replenish water levels reduced by five consecutive seasons of below-average rainfall, however, much of the country continues to struggle with the high food prices, reduced agricultural productivity, and reduced livelihoods caused by the prolonged drought.

Kenya’s new government has developed an ambitious Bottom-Up Economic Plan to tackle complex domestic and global challenges. “The Bottom-Up approach is about making sure that markets work, and more importantly, work for the poor,” Cabinet Secretary Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u explained during a recent policy seminar hosted by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and IFPRI Kenya as part of the CGIAR Research Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS) seminar series.