Proverty in Kenya

Poverty in Kenya

GOVT 1301/ Paper #1

13 Feb 08

Yvonne Adams

Recent estimates show that urban poverty in Kenya has increased tremendously. Ordinarily, one would wish not to discuss such a depressing subject as poverty. However, like death and taxes, it has become a continuing affliction with which many Kenyans and Africans in general have to contend with on a daily basis. Poverty in Kenya has taken on many forms: deprivation, isolation, alienation, insecurity and worst of all, despondency. It is a problem that manifests itself in many forms and at all levels of society and which threatens the very foundations of society.

Over the past 30 years, poverty has been on the rise in Kenya. Poverty seems to be a paradox in a country that has the best-developed economy in eastern Africa, with relatively advanced agricultural and industrial sectors and substantial foreign exchange earnings from agricultural exports and tourism. Yet Kenya is a low-income country, with per capita income averaging about $360 in US. It ranks 148th among 177 countries in the United Nations Development Programmer’s human development index, which measures a country’s development in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and standard of living. (1) Kenya’s rural poor people include: small farmers, herders, farm laborers, unskilled and semi-skilled workers, households headed by women, people with disabilities, AIDS orphans. Women are particularly vulnerable because they do not have equal access to social and economic assets. (1)

Poverty reduction strategies show promise for more transparent and rational delivery of public services to meet the needs of Africa’s rural poor. An analysis was conducted to determine how closely Kenya’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) matches with the problems and priorities articulated by residents of 80 rural communities in 10 districts of Western Kenya. The results suggest that there was a good match between national PRSP...