Qualitative Study of Social Protection Programs Impact in Kenya

In recent years, Kenya has made very significant progress in building a larger, more effective and nationally-owned social protection system, in particular through the expansion of regular and predictable social transfer schemes financed from general government revenues. A range of programmes offer unconditional transfers to particular categories of the population. The Kenyan government recognizes that, while social protection is an essential public service in terms of providing families with a minimum level of income and food security, it is, alone, insufficient to offer them an adequate standard of living, including food consumption.

In the context of developing and implementing the comprehensive social protection program which aims to strengthen linkages and complementarities between different schemes, we undertook a qualitative study with social protection beneficiaries to understand:

The linkages (and lack thereof) between cash transfers and other social protection programs such as the nutrition intervention through health education known as NICHE program, and the Imarisha Afya ya Mama na Mtoto (Improving Maternal and Child Health) complementary support for maternity care; and
The structural barriers hindering social protection’s wider impact on livelihoods and productivity.

Data collection was carried out in four counties with well-implemented social protection programs targeting older people, children, young people and pregnant women: Kakamega (urban), Turkana (rural), Kitui (rural and urban) and Kisumu (urban).

The results from the study will be used to: (i) assist the Ministry of Labour, East African Community and Social Protection and other relevant ministries in planning and allocating annual resources to enhance complementarities of social protection schemes; and (ii) identify cost-efficient approaches/options for linkages.