‘Leave No One Behind’: Joining Hands in the Fight against Poverty in Kenya

17 October 2014, is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which is to be commemorated at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, USA.  This calendar event has been observed for the past 21 years after the UN General Assembly earmarked it as a day to increase awareness on the importance of eradicating poverty and destitution worldwide.

The theme for this year’s event is entitled, “Leave No One Behind: Think, Decide and Act Together against Extreme Poverty,” which recognises and highlights the challenge of identifying and enhancing the pro-active role of those worst affected by poverty and social exclusion in the post-2015 Development Agenda — the successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"Poverty eradication is a core agenda for many governments around the world";  this statement was elicited by Dr. Philip Didi, a consultant on economic issues at a poverty eradication roundtable forum on 17 September 2014 at the Grand Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. The global poverty statistics justifies the fight against poverty by most states and according to the latest figures from the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest hit by poverty as 46.8 per cent of its population live on less than $1.25 a day  

The roundtable forum, organised by PEC and Friedrich Ebhert Stiftung (FES), sought to explore various strategies to achieve a coordinated war against poverty in Kenya by the numerous stakeholders that were in attendance. Among the stakeholders who graced the forum included the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA), Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), Ministry of Devolution, National Planning and Vision 2030 as well as the African Migration and Development Policy Centre (AMADPOC).  

Perhaps as a foresight to the theme of today’s calendar event, stakeholders stressed on the need for all stakeholders to be collectively involved in the fight against poverty — including those at the grassroots who are affected by it. One stakeholder stated that:

“It is important that even as we deliberate on the appropriate poverty eradication strategies, we should be cognisant of those at the grassroots. They should be involved in the formulation of such strategies so that we come up with solutions that stand great chances of benefiting them.”

Prof. John Oucho, the Executive Director of AMADPOC, proposed a multidisciplinary research team to explore various ways of enhancing poverty eradication coordination strategies in addition to organising a national conference on poverty eradication. Dr. Nancy Nafula from KIPPRA agreed with this statement adding that it was the best way of enhancing coordination among various sectors in the fight against poverty. 

Erasing poverty will need concerted efforts of all stakeholders including those worst hit by it (Image courtesy of www.salesians-un.org)

Not to be overlooked is the role of demographics in Kenya’s economic development; unfortunately various reports, research and policies in the country often overlook this important quotient.

“Failure to appreciate the demographic quotient in Kenya’s development puts reports, policies and research to shame. We should strive to understand how poverty affects different categories of the population, such as, adults, the youth as well as children,” Prof. Oucho.

Attributes of Kenyan population, including high fertility, rapid population growth, declining mortality as well as migration either impact or are affected by poverty.  With regards to migration, AMADPOC’s research study — ‘Rural Outmigration to Urban Uncertainties’ — explores the link between migration and poverty by investigating the push factors at the place of origin (rural areas) as well as the pull factors (urban areas) to understand the nature and extent to which rural-urban migration either alleviates or aggravates poverty.

The research study — which is part of the Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium (MOP/RPC — was conducted between April 2012 and July 2013 in the rural counties of Siaya and Vihiga as well as the urban areas of Nairobi and Kisumu.  One of its findings is that rural-urban migration somehow alleviates poverty by improving the livelihoods of the migrants and their families.  Some of the migrants find jobs in the informal sector since formal employment is difficult to come by.

However, rural-urban migration leads to proliferation of informal settlements in the urban areas where poverty reigns supreme. Problems, such as, insecurity, poor housing and poor sanitation are key issues that migrants have to deal with in the urban areas. Female migrants also have to contend with exploitation and fear of physical or sexual abuse.

The rural areas face loss of labour when the migrants, mostly the youth, migrate to the urban areas for employment or personal development. Furthermore, the migrants’ families left behind in the rural areas are faced with the difficult task of recouping the costs of their kin’s outmigration. Some rural-urban migrants also become a burden for their folks in the rural areas when the former cannot find employment in the city. The rural households are compelled to support them through urban-rural transfer of funds and goods (e.g. food) to help the migrants cope with the high cost of living in the city. 

Labour loss:Rural-urban migration deprives rural areas of much-needed labour for various activities, such as, farming.

Prof. Oucho highlighted at the forum the need for a similar countrywide research should be conducted to shed light on whether Kenyans migrate out of or into poverty when moving from the rural areas to the urban regions. This may help to develop effective strategies of alleviating poverty in different counties that face different or similar challenges.

 Leave no one behind: Think, Decide and Act Together against Extreme Poverty; this theme, in commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, recognises those affected by poverty as critical partners in the war against poverty. In line with this theme, with the advent of the devolved form of governance in Kenya, it is important that migrants and non-migrants are engaged by the various county governments when formulating strategies and policies for economic development. One of the recommendations of the AMADPOC study is to engage those people stricken by poverty (i.e. migrants and non-migrants) in order to develop pro-economic development strategies that enhance their livelihoods.