Providing research evidence for social protection in Kenya

In August 2016, PASGR and the African Institute for Health and Development (AIHD) partnered to provide research evidence and scenarios for potential legislative solutions on social protection in Kenya. This was at the request of the Ministry of East African Community, Labour and Social Protection which had initiated the interaction to inform the initial steps towards a National Social Protection Bill. AIHD is the host organisation of Kenya’s Utafiti Sera on social protection.

At a forum convened by the Ministry, PASGR and AIHD worked with other stakeholders to present the most recent evidence on social protection. This activity was guided by PASGR’s goal to promote the use of research evidence to engage policy action and programming decisions.

Participants presented on and discussed studies that would inform the draft Bill that the line ministry technical committee was developing.

AIHD official Alice Sinkeet says the work involved conducting research, holding consultative meetings and dialogue sessions with key stakeholders in the social protection sector.

During the year, Utafiti Sera also convened other forums in which over 40 representatives from government line ministries and agencies, the counties, development partners, civil society organisations (CSOs), researchers and the media discussed how to move the social protection agenda forward.

Moreover, Utafiti Sera re-packaged existing and new evidence on social protection to inform policymakers and practitioners.

Some of the outputs of Kenya’s social protection Utafiti Sera include: a video on the impact of cash transfer programmes in Turkana, Kwale, Bomet and Nairobi counties; newspaper articles; policy briefs; infographics and five key agenda items for enhancing social protection programming.

This post is from the 2016 PASGR annual report. Download a PDF copy to read other stories about our work.