Analysis done by International Budget Partnership Kenya over the years shows lasting challenges in social protection budgeting, including the fragmentation of programmes, lack of congruence between financial and non-financial information and poorly disaggregated data on beneficiaries. These continue to hinder evidence-based stakeholder engagement with duty bearers on the financing of social protection and the implementation of the various programmes.
To understand these challenges, this paper seeks to explore social protection in Kenya from a public finance perspective, highlighting the gaps in fiscal policy and practice to develop insights for the public and practitioners within the social protection sector. Although not exhaustive, the paper further aims to contribute to the growing literature around the intersection of public finance management and service delivery in Kenya. Finally, the findings of this paper will inform the development of a budget guide for use by practitioners within the social protection sector and the wider public to understand and engage with budget decisions and processes in Kenya.
The paper is structured in five main sections. An initial section examines the available literature on social protection and social protection budgeting in Kenya and highlights the methodology used in the development of this paper. Section 1 explores the legal definition of social protection in Kenya and the larger legal and policy framework through which social protection is publicly provided. Section 2 looks at the scope of social protection in practice, providing a detailed analysis of social protection budgets in four key sectors. Section 3 highlights the place of public participation in social protection budgeting. Finally, section 4 pays attention to the key gaps in the financing of social protection in Kenya and potential fixes.
