The Mbao Pension Plan: Savings for the Informal-Sector
Social protection schemes in Kenya are both Government-run and private, and consist of tax-financed schemes such as the Inuda Jamii Senior Citizens’ Grant, contributory schemes such as the National Social...
Making smart use of technology: How electronic registration made Kenya’s universal pension possible
The Government of Kenya made a landmark decision in 2017 to provide a basic monthly pension income to its older citizens over the age of 70 years. The move represents a major step forward in the building of Kenya’s national social protection system. As the final preparations are made to...
Quantitative Impact Analysis of Uganda’s Senior Citizens Grant
An impact analysis by Development Pathways’ Bjorn Gelders and Diloa Bailey-Athias, who employ a novel, low-cost approach to identifying the impacts of Uganda’s Senior Citizens Grant. Their work provides further...
Third strike and you’re out? PMT performance against financial diaries and wealth-ranking data
What do you do when your most important poverty measurement tool on a poverty outreach programme looks as if it is not working? Guest blogger Julie Lawson-McDowall writes. Not so long ago, we at CRS’s Expanding Financial Inclusion (EFI) project (https://efiafrica.crs.org ) had a bit of a moment: it looked as...
Inua Jamii Senior Citizens’ Scheme
The Inua Jamii Senior Citizens’ Scheme is a tax-financed pension-tested social pension offering universal pension coverage for all citizens of Kenya once they reach 70 years of age. The programme,...
Stories of the Inua Jamii Senior Citizens’ pension: Hopes for Kenya’s flagship universal pension programme
In a small rural community in Kenya’s Rift Valley, many older people are hopeful about the Inua Jamii Senior Citizens’ programme and the benefits that it could bring to their own wellbeing and that of their families, writes Anh Tran. As Ellen Jerotich stated during my visit to her house...
A progressive moment: Social protection’s rationale identified as citizenship, not charity at IMF/LSE event
Matthew Greenslade The London School of Economics is where the welfare state was invented. Social protection is now needed more than ever, everywhere, to address rising challenges of high inequality and political upheaval. A new social contract is needed, in all countries. Higher income countries have designed their welfare states,...
Out of reach: targeting fails to keep pace with household dynamics
Can poverty-targeting work effectively if it assumes fast-changing households are static? Nicola Ansell discusses research which underscores the challenges to the selection mechanisms ahead of a forthcoming global review of the evidence. Nicola Ansell What is a household? Around the world, policymakers frequently confront this seemingly simple concept, only to find...
Uganda’s Senior Citizens Grant: Evaluation reveals further evidence on its impacts
Stephen Kidd A mark of a decent society is a guarantee that all citizens can enjoy income security once they reach old age. At least 56 countries worldwide now provide pensions to more than 90 per cent of older people and a growing number of low- and middle-income countries are...
All work and no pay: The invisibilisation of women’s labour in public works programmes
Anasuya Sengupta On International Women’s Day, I want to bring attention to a silent scandal on the use of women’s labour within public works programmes, which are increasingly referred to as productive safety net programmes in many low-income countries. These are, as many of you know, good old-fashioned workfare schemes...