Govt, WFP launch central registry of aid beneficiaries
What you need to know:
- East Africa Community Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie, said the registry will ensure that only deserving Kenyans are reached by the programmes.
- Deputy President William Ruto who launched the registry said the strategy aims at reducing poverty through investing in vulnerable groups of people.
- World Food Programme says since the programme was introduced in Kenya, it had invested over 10 million dollars, both financially and on technical support.
The government and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday launched a central database registry to gather information of beneficiaries of all social protection services in the country.
The comprehensive registry, which is the first of its kind in Africa will also eliminate double dipping in the access of social services.
East Africa Community Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie, said the registry will ensure that only deserving Kenyans are reached by the programmes.
“Currently, this registry holds information on cash transfers for over 900,000 orphans and vulnerable children, older persons, persons with disability and hunger safety net programmes,” Ms Kandie said.
Ms Kandie said her ministry would work with different counties to identify those who need a particular social programme and their reasons for the same.
“We will also have to remove some people from the lists of beneficiaries, because they may be undeserving or may have been empowered and their social status has changed since they started receiving cash transfers,” Ms Kandie said.
She added that the beneficiaries for the cash transfer are selected based on a preset criteria where the government uses poverty indicators and data collection indicator to identify the recipients.
Deputy President William Ruto who launched the registry said the strategy aims at reducing poverty through investing in vulnerable groups of people.
“We are committed in actualizing the constitutional provisions on social protection and aspirations of Vision 2030 under the Social Pillar,” Mr Ruto said.
He said so far, over 900,000 school going children in Arid and Semi-arid areas are benefiting from a meal each under the school feeding programme, and that this had increased enrollment.
Mr Ruto said under the cash transfer programme, 400,000 orphans and vulnerable children were receiving money to pay their fees.
“Cumulatively, we have allocated Sh80.5 billion in the last four years, increasing the number of beneficiary households from 295,023 to 832, 408,” Mr Ruto said.
The registry, Mr Ruto said, would ensure effective and efficient delivery of the services under various programmes as well as ensure that there is transparency and accountability.
World Food Programme says since the programme was introduced in Kenya, it had invested over 10 million dollars, both financially and on technical support.
