By Mukalo Kwayera @kwayeram The Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) disbursed more than Sh1 billion electronically in the last two months of 2015 to more than 270,000 vulnerable households in Northern Kenya as part of the emergency cash transfer to cushion recipients from drought and El Niño floods.
Programme communications specialist Carrie Ndoka says the money — Sh1, 051 for 271,325 households — released through Equity Bank benefitted an estimated 1.6 million people. She said in a press statement that the recipients had to produce a valid national identification card and active bank accounts to access the payments.
HSNP, a flagship programme under the Devolution and Planning ministry that is managed by the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), facilitates “regular and predictable” cash transfers for close to 100,000 poor and most vulnerable households in four target counties.
It is also mandated to deliver emergency payments to additional 272, 478 registered households to mitigate emergencies such as drought and floods. Jointly funded by the Kenyan government, the UK (UKAid through the Department for International Development) and Australia (Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade), HSNP is part of the National Safety Net Programme (NSNP).
According to Ndoka, HSNP disbursed emergency cash transfers worth Sh488,702,400 to 191,648 households in parts of Marsabit, Wajir, Mandera and Turkana, the four poorest counties. It later intervened in Turkana to alleviate the effects of El Niño floods.
NDMA chief executive officer James Oduor said the HSNP intervention has continued to alleviate the suffering of residents in the four counties with high poverty levels and suffer frequent droughts and flooding. “We therefore urge the county governments and other partners to work together with HSNP and see how they can support the programme in reaching out to more people,” he said.
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