The Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) is an unconditional cash transfer initiative aimed at reducing poverty and food insecurity in Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands by providing financial support to vulnerable households. Implemented in phases, the program has demonstrated effectiveness in improving food security, asset retention, and overall well-being, particularly in times of crisis, such as droughts. The second phase aims to expand the program's reach and sustainability, with an emphasis on improving targeting methods and maintaining strong oversight of fund distribution and beneficiary engagement.

1. THE HUNGER SAFETY NET PROGRAMME
(HSNP)
HUMANITARIAN PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE,
NAIROBI, 15TH TO 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2014
SUNYA ORRE, DIRECTOR TECHNICAL SERVICES
NDMA KENYA
Turkana, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir

2. Overview
1. Context: ASALs
2. Objectives of HSNP
3. Phase 1: 2008-12/13
4. Results from Phase 1
5. Lessons on targeting
6. Phase 2: 2013-17
7. Expected results
8. Role of NDMA
9. Links to NSNP
10. Key issues going forwards
11. Questions?

3. Context: ASALs
1. ASALs: 84% of land mass;
36% of the population.
2. Chronic poverty, drought
prone & historically
marginalised.
3. Low scores against
national development
indicators.
4. Integrated and dynamic
challenges.

4. Objectives of HSNP
 HSNP is an unconditional cash
transfer programme, geographically
focused in the ASALs.
 Aim: To reduce poverty, food
insecurity and malnutrition, and
promote asset retention and
accumulation in poor HHs.
 Uses biometric smart card to make payments
via a private sector payment provider (Equity
Phase 1).
 Operated under Ministry of State for the
Development of Northern Kenya and Other
Arid Lands.
 Financial support from DFID & AusAID.
4 counties:
Turkana, Marsabit,
Mandera and Wajir

5. Phase 1: 2008-12/13 (£40.5m)
 Targets: 69,000 of the poorest HH or
496,800 of the poorest people in the 4
counties.
 Beneficiaries receive regular, predictable
cash transfers:
 Ksh 1,750 (approx. £13) per HH, per month
(Ksh 3,500 every payment cycle).
 HSNP 1: primarily a safety net for the
chronically poor: with ability to scale up in
emergencies (it increased payment value in
the 2011 drought).

6. Phase 1: How implemented?
 National and county coordination via the HSNP
Secretariat under the Ministry of State for
Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands.
 5 components:
1. Administration: identification & registration of
beneficiaries;
2. Management Information System: database of
beneficiaries;
3. Payments: transfer of cash to beneficiaries;
4. M&E: monitoring & evaluation of results; and
5. Grievance procedures: feedback system for
beneficiaries.

7. How it makes a difference…
Enhanced drought
coping capacities
Increased food consumption
& dietary diversity
Increased asset
retention
Coping with disability Improving child welfare
Increased financial
inclusion in the ASALs:
Starting a business

8. Reaching vulnerable groups…
Economic empowerment
for women
Dignity for PWDs Help in old age (1)
Women as leaders Support to HIV + people Help in old age (2)

9. Independently evaluated impacts
KEY MESSAGE:
 HSNP is helping families to: be more food secure; hold onto their
assets during shocks; and spend more on health. It is even enabling
children to perform better in school. HSNP is successfully acting as
safety net. It slows the slide into poverty, particularly in crisis years (e.g.
drought 2011).
 Mixed methods; Randomised Control Trials (2009-12)
 Increased poverty reduction for HSNP HHs, compared to control group:
 HSNP HHs are 10% less likely to fall into the poorest decile nationally.
 Control HHs are 7% poorer on average than HSNP HHs.
 The severity of poverty for control HHs is also more pronounced, to the
tune of 7%.
 Primary impacts: Poverty/consumption; Food security; Asset retention.
 Secondary impacts: Increased health & education expenditure; Livelihoods
opportunities; increased saving, borrowing, credit; reduced vulnerability to shocks;
Empowerment of women; improved well-being of children and old persons.
 Unintended impacts: Dependency (labour participation); Prices; Informal
transfers; Social tensions; Mobility patterns.

10. Results after two years
Household poverty rates at baseline and follow-up
2 by treatment status

11. HSNP: Lessons on targeting
 Phase 1: piloted 3 approaches:
 Community Based Targeting (CBT)
 Social Pensions (SP)
 Dependency Ratio (DR)
 Findings : CBT best…but not perfect!
 Proxy Means Test (PMT) more useful but not
perfect!
 Phase 2: will combine CBT & PMT and
evaluate the effectiveness of this
approach.

12. HSNP: Phase 1 Key
Challenges
 GoK: Insecurity in ASALs; poor infrastructure network; lack of MoU; lack of a
single registry across CT programmes.
 Beneficiaries: Mobile populations; missed payments; lack of ID cards;
Sharing of the benefit reducing its impact.
 Administration (NGOs): Coordination of implementing partners and roles
and responsibilities in the field.
 MIS: QA of data in and out; capacity to use and analyse.
 Payments: Timeliness of payments; technology and technical skills of
agents and beneficiaries.
 M&E: Ethical issues on use of controls.
 Grievance and redressal: Channels to direct complaints; scope of issues
raised; and sustainability of rights committees.
 Donors: Coordination of components and partners; QA and ownership of
data; QA of partner communications.

13. Phase 2 : 2013/14-17
(£85.59m)
 Builds on and expands Phase 1:
 CHRONIC: Safety net for the chronically poor: By EoP, cash
transfers for up to 100,000HH (720,000 people) of approx. Ksh 2,700
or £19 a month paid (5,400 per cycle) into beneficiaries bank
account.
 Women: approx. 52% women beneficiaries with 66% of beneficiary
HHs women headed.
 ACUTE: Scalable safety net in response to crisis: 375,000 HH
(reaching approx. 2.1m people) will be carded and provided with
bank accounts and can be reached with emergency payments.
 Impact: Reduce poverty, hunger and vulnerability for
the poor in Kenya’s Arid, Semi-Arid lands.
 Outcome: Create better and more sustainable safety
nets for poor and vulnerable households, particularly
for households in the ASALs.

14. Phase 2 : Expected results
 Outputs:
 GoK supports cash transfers for chronic and acute responses in
the arid and semi-arid lands, which are integrated within the
wider National Safety Net Programme; and
 HSNP households receive timely, predictable electronic cash
transfers for both chronic and acute responses.
 Key results by 2016/17:
 Sustainability
 Coverage and women beneficiaries
 Poverty impact
 Scalable safety nets for early crisis response

15. Relationship to NSNP
 HSNP key to the delivery of NSNP results:
 GoK funds HSNP in line with EDE MTP.
 Targeting and expansion plans.
 Strengthening MIS.
 100% payments use 2 factor authentication.
 Grievance & redressal mechanisms.
 M&E.
 Scalability.

16. ISSUES RAISED: NDMA
 Lists of beneficiaries to receive accounts in the field
 Operations manual update:
 General HSNP 2
 Scalability component
 Complaints & Grievances Procedures
 Categorisation by county/ type
 Reporting procedures & processes
 Resolution procedures & processes (county/ central)
 Clarifying R&R of diff stakeholders in the above
 Reporting and M&E of on complaints received & resolved online
 Training of NDMA staff
 MIS use & analysis
 C&G procedures
 M&E
 Scalability component

17. ISSUES RAISED: HAI
 Contract discussions:
 Beneficiary lists for working in the field – Sct
approved list (PISP diff list?)
 Staffing and capacity (HQ and field)
 Support to the county technical working group/ NDMA
in the field
 R&G moving from paperbased MIS to electronic
 Tracking and reporting on complaint resolution
 ID issues and their resolution
 Budget
 Transition to the KHRC/ ombudsman role
 Fiduciary risks with IPRS

18. ISSUES RAISED: FSD/ EB
 Mop up of the group 1 pending accounts
 List by sub-location & village by end of the week
Working with NDMA & HAI to mobilise
Will not be charged & accounts ongoing
 Accounts opened cards in pocket 10%
 Coordination of work plans
 Communication
 Complaints
 IDs
 275K HHs

19. Lessons learned
 Explaining the targeting methodology
 Verification of the final lists
 Distribution of accurate beneficiary lists with
EB account holders
 Beneficiary mobilisation
 Route planning

20. HSNP2
2014-2017
Presented by:

21. HSNP2- PHASE 2 : 2013/14-17 BUDGET:
KSH.15BILLION.
 Builds on and expands Phase 1:
 CHRONIC: Safety net for the chronically poor: By EoP, cash
transfers for up to 100,000HH (720,000 people) of approx. Ksh
2,700 or £19 a month paid (5,400 per cycle) into beneficiaries bank
accounts.
 Women: approx. 52% women beneficiaries with 66% of beneficiary
HHs women headed.
 ACUTE: Scalable safety net in response to crisis: 375,000 HH
(reaching approx. 2.7m people) will be carded and provided with
bank accounts and can be reached with emergency payments.
 Impact: Reduce poverty, hunger and vulnerability for the
poor in Kenya’s Arid, Semi-Arid lands.
 Outcome: Create better and more sustainable safety nets
for poor and vulnerable households, particularly for
households in the ASALs.

22. HSNP2: EXPECTED RESULTS
Outputs:
 GoK supports cash transfers for chronic and acute
responses in the arid and semi-arid lands, which are
integrated within the wider National Safety Net Programme;
and
 HSNP households receive timely, predictable electronic cash
transfers for both chronic and acute responses.
Key results by 2016/17:
 Sustainability
 Coverage and women beneficiaries
 Poverty impact
 Scalable safety nets for early crisis response

23. THE IMPLEMENTING STRUCTURE- PILU
 An internationally procured Project Implementation and
Learning Unit (PILU) within the National Drought Management
Authority (NDMA) and Accountable to CEO NDMA and
appropriately staffed with NDMA civil servants and PILU TA
team counterparts.
OBJECTIVES:
 To ensure the effective management of HSNP 2 in conjunction
with the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).
 To build capacity in GoK (NDMA) to implement HSNP 2 within
its own structure by 2017

24. HSNP2 WITHIN THE NDMA
Board of
Directors
CEO
Policy,
Planning &
Research
Resource
Mobilisation &
Advocacy
Technical
Services
HSNP2
Support
Services

25. HUNGER SAFETY NET PROGRAMME
NDMA
Programme Implementation &
Learning Unit (HNSP)
County Drought
Coordinators (NDMA)
County Coordinators & Sub-
County Coordinators (HSNP)
Rights (HelpAge)
Mobilisation,
Rights & Grievances
Payment Service
Manager (FSD)
Payment Service
Provider
Independent Evaluation

26. HSNP NATIONAL COORDINATION
Steering Committee
Quarterly
Chaired by NDMA CEO
Membership:
NDMA, DFID, PILU, FSD, HAI,
NSNP, WB, DFAT
Technical
Coordination Group
Weekly Chaired by PILU
Monthly
Chaired by Drought Response
Manager
Membership:
NDMA, PILU, FSD, EB, HAI
Plus DFID

27. HSNP COUNTY COORDINATION COUNTY
COORDINATION
County Steering
Group
Quarterly
Chaired by NDMA
CDC
NDMA, EB, SPR/HAI,
other development
partners
County Technical
Coordination Group
Weekly
Chaired by CDC
HSNP County Coordinator
NDMA Drought Response Officer (DRO)
NDMA Drought Information (as needed)
SPR Partner County Coordinator
Equity Bank HSNP Supervisor/Branch
Manager

28. PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION & LEARNING UNIT PILU
Team Leader
Operations
Manager
MIS Specialist
Monitoring
Specialist
Coordinator
Communications
Specialist
Finance Manager
Finance Officer
Project
Administrator

29. ROLES OF PILU
 Management and Monitoring of HSNP2, sourcing
and procurement of short term Technical Assistance.
This includes Working with GoK, DFID, in the
oversight of Payment Component run by the
Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Trust in Kenya.
 Evaluation Component: Oversight of an
independently and internationally procured and
independently governed evaluation.
 Rights and Grievances Component: Implemented
by Help Age International (HAI)

30. TORS OF HSNP PILU STAFF
 Team Leader oversees the PILU;
 HSNP Coordinator provides liaison with NDMA and other
GoK agencies,
 HSNP Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing
and managing core operational tasks at the National level
and manages HSNP County and Sub-County Coordinators;
 MIS Specialist manages the programme MIS and provide
technical support to the MIS across the programme;
 Monitoring Specialist oversees the monitoring of the
HSNP and is responsible for overseeing the evaluation of
the programme, which will be undertaken by a separate
Managing Contractor;

31. PILU TORS CONT’D
 Communications Specialist oversees both internal
communications within the programme to HSNP2 target
audience, to developing and implementing an externally
focused communications strategy;
 Finance and Administration Team that provides all
necessary logistical and financial support to the PILU;
 Four County Coordinators who are responsible for the
implementation and coordination of the HSNP at the
County level- Turkana, Wajir, Marsabit and Mandera.
 Twelve Sub-County Coordinators will be recruited
across the four Programme Counties

32. ROLE OF THE NDMA
 Oversight of implementation of HSNP & PILU in
NDMA
 Ensuring GoK financing to HSNP (in line with
NSNP and EDE MTP)
 Scalable safety net responses (HSNP and
National Drought Contingency Fund)
2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 TOTAL
GoK contribution to
HSNP (million Kshs)
312 624 1,248 2,496 4,680

33. NDMA ROLE CONT…
 Reaching targeted beneficiaries
 Beneficiary mobilisation
 Coordination (within & between County & National)
 Directing complaints to R&G component
 Monitoring Project implementation with PILU
Monitoring officer
 Financing (National and County)
 Scalable safety net responses (HSNP & NDCF)
 Communication

34. RELATIONSHIP WITH NSNP
HSNP key to the delivery of NSNP results:
o GoK funds HSNP in line with EDE MTP. HSNP works closely
with NSNP in achieving set indicators (DLIs) under the
Programme 4 Results (P4R);
o Targeting and expansion plans must be in line with NSPN’s.
o Strengthening MIS to improve fiduciary controls and
monitoring. Single registry with programme MIS’s interlinked
and agreed standards for payroll controls – setting the NSNP
benchmark.
o 100% of payments being made through 2 factor
authentication: bank card + biometrics.
o Grievance & redress: Functioning grievance and appeals
mechanisms: provided via NGO HelpAge Intl.
o Monitoring: Regular and comprehensive Monitoring and
reporting
o Scalability: Working to build scalable safety nets that can
respond effectively to crises

35. HSNP2: ACHIEVEMENTS
 Registration: 381,800HHs registered across the four Counties of
Turkana, Marsabit, Mandera & Wajir. 374,806HH had complete data
by June 2013.
 Targeting: 100,000HHs already targeted across the four Counties
using modified CRA formula to distribute across the Counties. PMT
and CBT was used to distribute within the Counties by October
2013.
 Posting and notification of HHs already taken place across the
Counties by December 2013.
 IDs of targeted 100,000 HHs already take through the IPRS for
validation.
 Bank A/C opening began in January 2014. So far 64,258 accounts
have been opened in the four Counties. Target timeline of
completion is December 2014.
 Payment of cycles 7: Bank A/Cs of 61,854 beneficiaries have
been credited with 7 cycle payments (arrears) totaling over Kshs.
2.011billion by 20th august 2014. Bi-monthly cash value increased
from Kshs. 4,600 in 2013/14 to 4,900 in 2014/15.

36. HSNP2 ACHIEVEMENT CONT…
 Social Protection rights:
 Already recruited Rights Committees across all the
Counties;
 National ID registration strategy for HHs without already
in place, to work with NRB
 C&G resolution process developed and initiated
 Governance
 PILU staff both National and County recruited and
already working
 PILU office now housed at NDMA offices
o HSNP2 Operational Manual developed and training of staff
taking place.
o Communication strategy and implementation plan in its
final stage of completion
o Data Sharing Protocols developed and shared with INGOs

37. Q&A!