BৃACKGROUND
The countries of the former Eastern Provinces (NEP) are the least developed regions in Kenya. The level of poverty is very high. According to the Human Development Report 2006, the region recorded the highest increase in poverty, with the Human Poverty Index rising from 43% to 50.5%.

The province does not offer good rents in other regions either:

93% of NEP women have no education
Adult literacy rate is 74.2%.
1 in 3 people go to school
There is 1 doctor for 120,000 people
Secondary NER 3.1% for boys and 1.6% for girls

Source: GeoK 2006

Social indicators for the northern counties of Wazir, Mandera and Garissa indicate that the region is still lagging behind other regions of the country, despite increased resources following the implementation of evolution. Other counters classified as semi-dry are better than northern Kenya. For example, in terms of population and area, Wazir East and Narok are roughly the same size, and yet Naroke has about four and three times the number of primary schools and teachers, respectively.