Background

The State Department for Special Programmes (SDSP) has its origins in the early 1960s, when it was established as a Unit of Special Programmes within the Office of the President. At inception, its mandate focused primarily on drought and famine relief, emergency response, and the resettlement of population affected by disasters, reflecting the Government’s early efforts to address recurrent humanitarian crises, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas.

The El Niño floods of 1997–1998, which resulted in widespread loss of life, displacement of communities, and extensive damage to infrastructure, exposed significant weaknesses in the country’s disaster preparedness and coordination mechanisms. The 1998 terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi further underscored the need for a permanent, centralized, and multi-hazard emergency coordination framework capable of managing both natural disasters and complex emergencies. In response, the Government established the National Disaster Operations Centre (NDOC) in the same year within the Office of the President to serve as the national hub for disaster coordination, information management, and inter-agency response.

As humanitarian needs evolved beyond immediate emergency response to encompass drought relief, famine mitigation, emergency food assistance, early recovery, and support to vulnerable population, the Government progressively consolidated these functions under the framework of Special Programmes, strengthening institutional capacity and coordination with development partners and humanitarian actors.

Following the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, disaster risk management and humanitarian assistance were formally recognized as shared responsibilities between the national and county governments. To enhance intergovernmental coordination and service delivery, Special Programmes was subsequently placed under the Ministry responsible for Devolution and Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), and later under the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, aligning its operations with the devolved governance framework.

In June 2025, through Executive Order No. 1 of 2025, the State Department for Special Programmes was established as a fully-fledged State Department under the Ministry of Public Service, Human Capital Development & Special Programmes. This elevation marked a significant milestone in strengthening national leadership, policy direction, and coordination of humanitarian assistance, disaster management, and special intervention programmes in Kenya.