Kenya National Social Protection Policy 2011

Poverty and vulnerability remain major challenges, with almost one in every two Kenyans trapped in a long-term, chronic and intergenerational cycle of poverty, to address these challenges the government has elaborated a national social protection policy in 2011. Based on a participatory and consultative approach, the policy aims to to ensure that all Kenyans live in dignity and exploit their human capabilities for their own social and economic development.
To attain this, the following broad policy objectives will be pursued: (i) protecting individuals and households from the impact of adverse shocks to their consumption that is capable of pushing them into poverty or into deeper poverty. (ii) supporting individuals and households to manage these shocks in ways that do not trap them in poverty by reducing their exclusion and strengthening their ability to graduate from social assistance and to become financially self-sufficient. (iii) cushioning workers and their dependants from the consequences of income-threatening risks such as sickness, poor health, and injuries at work as well as from the threat of poverty in their post-employment life. (iv) promoting key investments in human capital and physical assets by poor and non-poor households and individuals that will ensure their resilience in the medium-term and that will break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. (v) promoting synergies and integration among social protection providers as well as positive interactions among stakeholders for the optimal functioning of this Policy.
In the context of poverty reduction, the following programmes and activities will be developed by the policy in the context of social assistance: (i) to establish institutions and provide resources needed to provide social assistance to the various target populations. (ii) to ensure that the design and implementation of all programmes and development approaches are coordinated, including those within social assistance and between social security and health insurance. (iii) to strengthen and scale-up existing social assistance programmes while widening their geographical and demographic coverage. (iv) to put in place institutional frameworks for coordinating social assistance to ensure consistent and adequate levels of support. (v) to conduct periodic reviews of instruments and strategies to reach the poor based on standards agreed upon by stakeholders such as ease of implementation, effectiveness in targeting, cost-effectiveness, and the impact on the welfare and livelihoods of the beneficiaries. (vi) to conduct research to inform the implementation of social assistance interventions on areas such as targeting, the adequacy of the transfer value, delivery mechanisms, social rights, and community/beneficiary participation. (vii) to determine the appropriate graduation and exit strategies for the different interventions while helping stakeholders to develop standards to be used to assess the appropriateness of these strategies.
In addition, the policy also plans in the context of social security: (i) to strengthen the existing social security regime and establish comprehensive social security arrangements that will extend legal coverage to all workers, whether in the formal or informal sectors, and their dependants, (ii) to undertake research into and consider viable options for extending coverage to those who work informally and their dependants in consultation with key stakeholders, including those in affected communities and sectors, (iii) to develop synergies within social security and across the social protection spectrum, by harmonizing benefits where possible and by coordinating and integrating a system of providing multi-pillar retirement schemes, supported by integrated coordinated information systems and reliable contributor and beneficiary databases, (iv) to align social security schemes, laws, arrangements, and interventions with the Bill of Rights in the Constitution and, in so doing, ensure that any discrimination or unequal treatment is eliminated, (v) to provide a supportive framework for private sector participation in the health sector and determine the exact role, place, and function of medical benefit (insurance) schemes in relation to the NHIF and Government interventions in healthcare.
In the context of governance, a national social protection council, will be established by an Act of Parliament, and will bring together key stakeholders in the area of social protection. Its membership shall consist of representatives of the Government ministries engaged in social protection, and of organized business, employers, and workers, social security organizations. The Council will be a forum in which the stakeholders will jointly agree on social protection policies and actions. It will also oversee the implementation of this Policy. The council will set up committees and sub-committees at the national level to pursue different agendas. These will include: (i) committees of representatives from agencies pursuing common social protection aspects, such as asset development and income generation, asset protection and rehabilitation, safety, consumption transfers, and social security and health insurance, (ii) committees of representatives from agencies supporting joint programmes at the national or county levels, (iii) committees of representatives from agencies focusing on similar geographic and/or target populations such as older persons, OVC, young people, and people with disability.