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Kenya: Covid-19 Effects May Require Social Safety Net to Be Widened – Chelugui

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4 years ago

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More than 1.3 million vulnerable households receive Sh2,000 per month under the National Safety Net Programme (NSNP) from an annual budget of Sh30 billion, Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui has said.

NSNP was launched in 2013 to manage four, public-funded cash transfer programmes for senior citizens, orphans and vulnerable children, the severely disabled, and those susceptible to hunger. Some 500 beneficiaries were enrolled when it was launched.

“The Hunger Safety Net programme in particular demonstrates our government’s commitment to reduce poverty as articulated in Kenya Vision 2030,” Chelugui said.

More than 300,000 people, he said, have lost their jobs because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and are unable to provide for their families and may need to be enlisted NSNP.

“Currently, these programmes are reaching an estimated 12 percent of vulnerable populations in our country, which is a substantial increase from the 500 households of orphans and vulnerable children targeted at the start of the programme, two decades ago,” he said.

Besides these regular cash transfers, he said, the government in July provided top-up payments of Sh26.3 million to 12,054 benefiting households who met the eligibility criteria for the Nutritional Improvements through Cash and Health Education (NICHE) programme.

“To further protect and mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on a majority of households in the country, and as part of the response mechanism, in April 2020 our government introduced the Pandemic Response and Management Bill, 2020,” he said.