Government to Roll Out Pilot Program to Improve the Education and Health of Children

By Raisa Okwaras

The Government of Kenya and the Child Benefit Pilot Programme are partnering with selected United Nations agencies and non-state actors to introduce the universal child benefits (UCB) programme. The programme looks at improving the education, health, and nutrition of children in Kenya.

The universal child benefits programme, which costs ksh.80 million, targets children below three years old. At the moment, the programme pilots in three selected counties in Kenya. These are Embu, Kajiado, and Kisumu counties.

Some of the organisations that have partnered to bring the programme to fruition are World Food Programme, UNICEF, and Save the Children.

“This is a grant given to a family to support the family in terms of food and other necessities. Remember, this is a child who is below three years old and is not yet in school. At the age of three, the programme ceases to be important to that child because the child has graduated. Our basic interest is zero to thirty-six months,” said one of the programme representatives.

So far, the pilot programme has identified a total of 8,264 children in the three counties, where every child under thirty-six months will receive ksh.800 every month. Here, either the child’s mother or female caregiver receives the money which then goes to benefitting the child who should be Kenyan by birth. In addition, the children should be up to thirty-six months old at the time of registration.

“Remember, this is ksh.800 per month, that is ksh.1,600 every two months. It is given every two months,” they stated.

“This is a supplementation to the family income; not a replacement, just to be able to support the consumption needs of the child,” they added.

According to the Assistant Director of Children Services Peter Ombasa, the programme seeks to cushion children and their families from the covid-19 pandemic.

Watch the original video by KTN News Kenya here.

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