Network Frames and their Link to Commitment in Drought Early Warning Information Systems: Evidence from the FEWS NET-KFSSG Anti-Famine Campaign

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of Kenya’s famine early warning information (FEWI) network from 2007 to 2013. The study assessed: presence of collaborative networks (NC), strength of networks (C), organizational commitment (OC), types of information commitments (IC), and perceived impact (PE) by stakeholders at FEWI’s strategy-capacity-building-network, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and the coordination-implementer-network, the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG), since 2007. The study’s discussions are nested in the study’s functional framework: the multi-theoretical, multi-level, multi-analytical (MTML) model for studying the emergence of communication networks (Monge & Contractor, 2003). The study employed the concurrent embedded mixed methodology. The “networks and commitment FEWI survey” was distributed and responses from 191 respondents harvested online. Correlation analyses of the main variables were all positive as expected. Regression analysis confirmed by the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) yielded significant results for the prediction of IC by NC, IC by OC and C, indicating a vibrant network of food security organizations, workers and researchers in Kenya who collaborate and use early warning information in their work. An initial SEM was not admissible. SEM goodness-of-fit measures became adequate after the NC path was purged and replaced by C. This pointed to the possibility that contacts and associations (NC) was an implied factor in participating in activities and discussions (C), thus the need to study contact links over time. The final SEM model demonstrated suppressing mediatory traits by IC. IC predicted PE negatively, indicating that the more informed and involved the respondents, the more dissatisfied they were with regard to the effectiveness of the FEWI network in spearheading early action. Social network analysis (SNA) revealed centrality of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in the network. The strongest collaboration links were between FAO and MoA and between MoA and WFP-VAM, and NDMA, which indicated local government leadership of the mitigation task and their capacity-building relationship with relevant UN agencies. The field narratives text analysis found that the most discussed food security issues were consumption-related, as the top three issues mentioned were livelihood, nutrition and food production. The least discussed issues were climate-change-adaptation, biotechnology and GMO, indicating less focus on policy and planning in the network collaborative discussion and activities. The study made 10 recommendations, including grassroots participation by small-scale farmers, the education curriculum focus areas and a professional network to strengthen local connections and to drive local research and innovation for sustainable food security. This study enriched knowledge on inter-organizational dynamics in famine mitigation communities’ networks. The study placed community at the center of problem-solving, a core African philosophical incline. This integrated community view is also inclined to the entitlement perspective (Sen, 1982) which focuses on the political, economic and social factors in directing individual and organizational social commitment to food security. Future studies should focus on longitudinal procedures to test if the studied network dynamics remain constant over time. Keywords: sustainability, networks, famine early warning, collaboration, framing, information commitment, organizations, stakeholders, development, food security, information systems, Kenya, Horn of Africa, drought mitigation, climate change communication