More than 1.5 million Kenyans (approximately 5% of the population) are chronically food insecure and depend on emergency relief to meet their basic needs. These people are mainly located in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) that cover 80% of Kenya, in informal settlements and rural areas.

Poverty statistics in Kenya are staggering. 46% of Kenyans (16.7 million) live below the poverty line, and 19% of these are extremely poor and can hardly afford a meal a day. There are over 2.4 million orphans and vulnerable children under the care of old and disabled people - 50% of who are HIV/Aids orphans. 1.5 million Kenyans living in Arid and Semi Arid lands are food insecure, resulting into acute malnutrition.

Response to hunger and vulnerability through ad-hoc food relief is often very costly to deliver and has no flexibility in terms of extending family expenditure beyond food consumption. Many times, families receiving food relief sell part of it to obtain cash to meet other non-food needs.

HSNP seeks to pilot the use of long term predictable cash transfers to address chronic hunger. Cash can be invested, transferred or saved for future consumption. The pilot phase seeks to create evidence to inform the most cost effective and politically acceptable system of targeting and transferring small amounts of cash to a large number of people.  Read more http://www.hsnp.or.ke/