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Kenya cash transfer program ‘Inua Jamii’ now a case study in 8 countries

President Kenyatta flagged off fleet of new vehicles and motorcycles to be used by government officers to improve service delivery to the beneficiaries of the “Inua Jamii” programme.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has said the success of Kenya’s cash transfer program to the most vulnerable people and communities has become a case study in social welfare.

While briefing President Uhuru Kenyatta on the programme dubbed Inua Jamii, Yatani said a growing number of countries including Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi and Tanzania have visited the country in on benchmarking visits.

President Kenyatta said the Government has allocated Sh33 billion to scale the social and economic inclusion programme.

In the last six years, the beneficiaries have grown from slightly over 200,000 to 1.3 million currently and a jump in funding from Shs6.5 billion to Sh26 billion in the same period.

“The target of the programme is to streamline our delivery systems so that every Kenyan who needs help can get it. Importantly, the Ministry of Labour, the National Drought Management Authority, the Ministry of Health, and the Council of Governors will all be involved in its administration,” President Kenyatta said.

President Kenyatta said that in the same period, an additional 100,000 households have been supported under the Hunger Safety Net Programme in Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, and Turkana at a total cost of over Sh25.2 billion.

“Dignity has been restored; livelihoods have been saved, and we have shown that this family called Kenya takes care of its own,” the President said.

The President was speaking on Monday when he flagged off fleet of new vehicles and motorcycles to be used by government officers to improve service delivery to the beneficiaries of the “Inua Jamii” programme.

The 42 vehicles and 48 motorcycles were procured with the help of the World Bank from Toyota Kenya, Isuzu East Africa and Simba Corp.

“The fleet of vehicles we launch today will support programmes implemented under the National Safety Net Programme (NSNP) which comprises four cash transfer Programmes: the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Cash Transfer; the Older Persons over 70 Cash Transfer; the Persons With Severe Disabilities Cash Transfer Programme; and the Hunger Safety Net Programme,” added the President.

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He added that the success of the Inua Jamii programmes has proved wrong those who doubted Kenya’s ability to implement a robust and transformative social inclusion intervention.

“Well, I can only say that we have proved the critics wrong — and quite dramatically. The programme, run by the State Department for Social Protection under the Ministry of Labour, makes sure that cash transfers do get to hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, right across the country,” the President said.

He commended the Ministry of Labour, the Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank, the Cooperative Bank of Kenya and Post Bank and Kenya’s development partners for working together in ensuring that the life changing cash transfer initiatives are a success.

President Kenyatta said the Inua Jamii programme, whose deeper anchor is a family’s love, ensures that the country’s senior citizens have some level of financial empowerment in their sunset years while the younger beneficiaries have the very best start in life.

Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said the success of Kenya’s Inua Jamii

World Bank Programme Leader for Africa Paolo Belli assured President Kenyatta that Kenya’s development partners will continue to support the government’s social and economic transformation agenda.

“The recent approval of the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion project, with US$250 million IDA credit and $70 million DFID grant support, from all development partners is a testimony of this strong commitment,” Belli said.

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