PISP works within the larger Marsabit comprising of Chalbi, Laisamis and Marsabit districts. The area falls within the Saku, Laisamis and North-Horr constituencies. The district covers 66,000sq kms. of which 98% is either arid or semi arid. The inhabitants of the area are predominantly nomadic pastoralist community with a small population being sedenterised. Livestock production is the main economic mainstay of these communities. According to the 2002 GoK Poverty Eradication Strategy Paper, these pastoralists are ranked as the poorest and most vulnerable community in Kenya.

This is amongst the poorest sections of Kenya with problems such as peripheralization, marginalization, recurring droughts, land loss threats, monoculture, conflicts over natural resources, poor infrastructure, high illiteracy levels, poor and low manpower development, fewer/low development resource allocation by the government due to lower population densities, gender inequality as well as isolation and general backwardness. There is also the growing threat of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, increasing powerlessness, poverty and insecure livelihoods amongst these communities.