The state department of Social Protection has disbursed up to Sh23.5 billion to 557,551 beneficiaries in the 47 counties through KCB Bank over the last one year, it announced yesterday.
The National Safety Net Programme, popularly known as the Inua Jamii programme, was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015 aimed at helping the poverty-stricken households meet their basic needs.
“The programme is targeted and focuses on the households that are identified based on the level and priority of vulnerability. Over the last four years, the number of beneficiaries has grown from less than 200,000 to 830,000 beneficiaries which denotes the absolute necessity of the programme,” Social Protection PS Susan Mochache said.
The programme provides monthly cash transfers in form of a Sh2,000 stipend to orphans and vulnerable children, the elderly and persons with severe disability.
Out of the 557,551 beneficiaries in the past year, 58.65 per cent are older persons, 36 per cent are orphans and vulnerable children, while persons with severe disability accounts for 5.35 per cent.
KCB, through its biometric system which scans and saves the beneficiaries’ fingerprints during registration, has transformed enrollment of the beneficiaries. The biometric system has also created increased efficiency, transparency and facilitated speedy disbursements, the lender said in a statement.
“As we continually work to streamline the programme, we have noted great strides being made towards advancing this through the single registry system. Through it, we have been capturing the information of the beneficiaries from all our programmes to identify and track the individual beneficiaries,” KCB Group chief operating officer Samuel Makome said.
Makome added that the beneficiaries get their share through the bank's branches, selected Mtaani Agents as well as through cash-in transit in the case of beneficiaries residing in remote areas.