Poor households in the arid north counties that get government stipends splash on luxury meals and debt repayment on payday before resuming their deprived lifestyle almost immediately, a survey has found.
An evaluation of Kenya’s Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) by the Oxford Policy Management shows that cash disbursed to poor households in the counties of Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir and Mandera is all spent in one day, after which the beneficiaries begin borrowing again for survival.
