Country Factsheet
Kenya
This factsheet provides an overview of economic inclusion programs in Kenya. Economic inclusion programs are a bundle of coordinated, multidimensional interventions that support individuals, households, and communities in raising their incomes and building their assets. The data used for this factsheet comes from the Partnership for Economic Inclusion’s Landscape Survey 2023.
Country Facts
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa
Population
53.01 million
Income Group
Lower middle income
FCV country (WB FY24 list)
No
Poverty Headcount (share of population below the poverty line)
National Poverty Line
36.10%
Multidimensional Poverty Index
37.48%
$2.15/day (2017 PPP)
29.40%
Programs
Number of economic inclusion programs
30Institutional delivery (lead agency)
- Nongovernment-led
- Government-led
Geographic area
- Rural only
- Urban/peri
- Mix (urban & rural)
Participants
Number of participants
2.16 millionNumber of people benefiting
7.87 millionParticipants served by government-led programs (%)
31.30%Main Program Objectives
Wage employment
Self-employment
Income diversification
Productivity
Food security
Market access
Women's empowerment
Social inclusion
Social cohesion
Financial inclusion
Social services
Climate resilience
- More than 2/3 of programs
- Between 1/3 and less than 2/3 of programs
- Fewer than 1/3 of programs
Participant Profile
Targeted Poverty Segments
Poor
Extreme poor
Ultra-poor
Those above the poverty line
Doesn't target by poverty level
Targeted Population Groups
Women
Children
Youth
Older people
Persons with disabilities
Displacement-affected
Climate-affected
Marginalized
Conflict-affected
- More than 2/3 of programs
- Between 1/3 and less than 2/3 of programs
- Fewer than 1/3 of programs
CORE PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Transfer
Business capital
Wage employment facilitation
Skills training
Coaching
Financial services facilitation
Market links
Climate resilience support
ECONOMIC INCLUSION PROGRAMS SURVEYED
| Program Name | Year program began | Lead Agencies | Program Description | No. of Current Participants | % Female Participants | Poverty Targeting | Digital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AgriFin Digital Farmer 2 (ADF 2) Program | 2021 | Mercy Corps Kenya | The program aims to support farmers by providing technical support to build linkages between the government and innovators, and engaging in mapping, monitoring, and learning. | 1,356,089 | 26-50% of participants | Does not target by poverty level | Yes |
| Can Asset Transfer or Asset Protection Policies Alter Poverty Dynamics in Northern Kenya? A randomized controlled trial (RCT) | 2017 | BOMA | The program evaluates the impact of the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) and Index Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) on reducing poverty and improving psycho-social well-being in Northern Kenya. | 2,100 | All (100% of participants are female) | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) Initiative | 2018 | Catholic Relief Services - Kenya | The program promotes safe family care for children at risk of separation or reunifying from institutions by strengthening families and reforming national child-care systems. | 2,830 | 76-99% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| De-risking, Inclusion and Value Rnhancement of Pastoral Economies in the Horn of Africa | 2022 | ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company) | DRIVE aims to protect pastoralist communities from drought by providing a package of financial services and supporting market connections. | 30,000 | Does not target by poverty level | Yes | |
| Economic Inclusion as Pathway to Self-reliance | 2023 | Norwegian Refugee Council | The project aims to provide evidence that NRC's Economic Inclusion framework can be used to consolidate efforts to make displacement-affected communities in Dadaab Refugee Camp self-reliant. | Targets poor broadly | Yes | ||
| Graduation Model Approach | 2021 | HIAS | The program aims to alleviate poverty among vulnerable refugees and migrants through components such as psychosocial support, house visits, training in wage- and self-employment, financial literacy, soft skills, and economic support for savings and investment. | 200 | 51-75% of participants | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| Girls Improving Resilience through Livelihoods + Health (GIRL-H) | 2020 | Mercy Corps | GIRLH brings together adolescent girls and young women for six months of learning, with groups of 25 girls and one mentor meeting over three years. The program seeks to identify barriers and solutions to accessing health information, wellbeing, economic opportunities, and formal education. | 2,225 | 76-99% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Global Labor Program-Inclusive Futures | 2021 | Sightsavers | The program aims to demonstrate that relational capacity building interventions along value chains can improve employment levels for persons with disabilities, and improved labor rights protection. | 190 | 26-50% of participants | Does not target by poverty level | Yes |
| Human Talent Consultancy Services (Wage Employment Facilitation) | 2021 | HIAS | The program facilitates wage employment for refugees and migrants by providing training and mentorship to prepare job seekers, and through employer engagement to support companies in recruitment. | 40 | 51-75% of participants | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| Inbusiness Program | 2022 | Light for the World | The program focuses on empowering persons with disabilities and their caregivers through business training, linkages to institutions, and self-advocacy training. | 655 | 26-50% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Kenya Core Programming | 2010 | Village Enterprise | The project supports extremely poor people in rural Kenya in graduating from poverty by providing targeted trainings, mentorship, financial literacy, community savings groups, and cash grants to start businesses. | 3,603 | 76-99% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Development Response to Displacement Impacts (DRDIP) Project | 2017 | State Department for the Development of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) in the Ministry of East African Community, Regional Development and ASALs | The project aims to improve access to basic social services, expand economic opportunities, and enhance environmental management for communities hosting refugees in the target areas. | 59,501 | 51-75% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Marine Fisheries and Socio-Economic Development Project | 2022 | State Department for Fisheries, Aquaculture and The Blue Economy, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation | The project provides grants to finance productive, livelihood, social and environmental sub-projects. The project targets women, youth, and vulnerable and marginalized groups. | 2,200 | 26-50% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project (KSEIP) | 2020 | Department of Social Development in the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection | The project is a graduation program delivered by BOMA and Village Enterprise that aims to lift the poorest households out of extreme poverty across pilot counties. | 7,100 | 51-75% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project | 2016 | State Department for Youth Sports and Arts | The project aims to increase employment and earnings opportunities for targeted youths by addressing the supply and demand side challenges of the labor market, focusing on the informal sector and vulnerable youth. | 4,750 | 51-75% of participants | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| Let's Go Together | 2022 | AVSI Foundation | The project aims to addresses family poverty through economic empowerment, inclusive access to education, food, and health services, as well as promoting healthy cooking practices and urban gardening. | 250 | 51-75% of participants | Targets XP/UP only | No |
| Livelihoods for Inclusion and Transformation (LIFT) Northern Kenya An adapted climate-focused graduation program | 2022 | BOMA | LIFT adapts BOMA's poverty graduation model to address the climate crisis, helping households establish green businesses, manage sensitive ecosystems, and strengthen the enabling environment. | 10,950 | 76-99% of participants | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project | 2017 | Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development | The project aims to increase the productivity of smallholder farmers by providing climate-smart agricultural technologies, innovations, and management practices for increased productivity, and linking them to profitable markets. | 528,000 | 51-75% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Rural Entrepreneur Access project (REAP) | 2018 | BOMA | REAP provides the poorest and most vulnerable women with interventions such as financial literacy training, business and life skills mentoring, and cash grants, to help them start small businesses, establish savings, build resilience, and strengthen social capital. | 20,000 | All (100% of participants are female) | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| Strengthening Capacity of Religious Women in Early Childhood Development (SCORE ECD) | 2014 | Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya, Zambian Association of Sisterhoods, Association of Women Religious in Malawi, and Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa | The program supports women with children aged 0-3 by providing nurturing care and family strengthening services, and strengthening caregiver capacity, service delivery and partner organizational capacity. | 9,879 | 76-99% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (SEED) program | 2021 | BOMA | The program supports youth from Marsabit and Isiolo to acquire assets, knowledge, skills, and capacity to set up and run profitable and sustainable enterprises and to improve their access to market and financial services. | 2,400 | 51-75% of participants | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| Tumikia Mtoto Project | 2022 | AVSI Foundation | The project aims to socially and economically empower adolescent girls and young women through the provision of integrated economic strengthening interventions | 7,976 | All (100% of participants are female) | Targets XP/UP only | No |
| Nutrition in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands within Integrated Resilience Institutions (NAWIRI) Project | 2020 | Village Enterprise | The program aims to reduce acute malnutrition in Northern Kenya by promoting sustainable, evidence-based, and local solutions. | 10,009 | 76-99% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| NAWIRI - Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) for Nutrition | 2019 | Mercy Corps | REAP for Nutrition aims to catalyze a sustained reduction in acute malnutrition by addressing its immediate, underlying, and systematic drivers through multi-sectoral activities. | 8,700 | All (100% of participants are female) | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
| Village Enterprise Days for Girls Collaboration | 2020 | Village Enterprise | The program aims to empower people living in extreme poverty to start businesses and savings groups by providing training, mentoring, a conditional cash transfer, and access to financial institutions and markets. | 702 | 76-99% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Women Economic Empowerment through Climate Smart Agriculture (WEE-CSA) | 2021 | Village Enterprise | The project aims to enhance women's adaptive capacity to climate change through climate-smart agriculture, and to build institutional capacity to ensure gender-sensitive climate-smart agriculture policies. | 910 | 76-99% of participants | Targets poor broadly | Yes |
| Zoe Empowers | 2007 | Zoe Empowers Kenya | The program empowers orphaned children and vulnerable youth to overcome poverty through a family-based and peer-led program that promotes safety, health, and skills for long-term success. | 13,570 | 51-75% of participants | Targets XP/UP only | Yes |
Only programs that have given their consent to share their program data are included in this table
The Partnership for Economic Inclusion (PEI) is a global platform that unites non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, research institutions, funding partners, and the World Bank to support government adoption and scale up of economic inclusion programs that empower vulnerable people to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
| DNA: Does Not Apply; FY: Fiscal Year; FCV: Fragility, Conflict, and Violence; MPI: Multidimensional Poverty Index; NPL: National Poverty Line; N/A: Not available; WB: World Bank |