Concern Blogs

The Government of Kenya recently launched a cash transfer program that will give 10,000 of the poorest people living in Nairobi’s Mombasa slum 2,000 shillings – roughly $22 – a month for eight months. As a long-time advocate for cash transfers, especially in Kenya, we at Concern Worldwide celebrated the news, largely because we know from our own experience that it works.

Felicitas Wairimu works on her grocery stall in Nairobi's Korogocho slum. She was one of the beneficiaries of Concern's cash transfer program at the height of the 2011 drought crisis. Photo: Phil Moore

Even though $22 may seem small in our context, you have to remember that for the poorest, having this amount every month means, for the first time in their lives, they are receiving predictable and reliable income. For the first time, they are able to plan. We know that by giving people the opportunity to solve their own problems and make decisions about how to best fulfill their needs, families’ educations, health and nutrition standards are all raised.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anne O’Mahony is Country Director for Concern Worldwide in Kenya.

—Anne O’Mahony, Country Director, Kenya, Concern Worldwide

This morning in Nairobi, Kenya, Concern Worldwide marked the second commemoration of  World Humanitarian Day with colleagues from  NGOs, Red Cross Societies, the UN, government representatives from both Kenya and Somalia, and other humanitarian actors.

It was uplifting—and hugely important to recognize the contribution and sacrifices that humanitarian workers make in this troubled world of ours.  Here in Kenya, this day could have gone very differently. Read the rest of this entry »

The hope is that rain will come. It is now due: if it fails again, it will be devastating. It is no coincidence that the word for rain in the Maasai language is the same as that for God.

Kenya is currently in the grip of a severe drought that has killed crops, crippled the country’s production of food, and caused serious shortages of affordable food in urban areas.  But the pastoralist communities in Kenya’s rural areas are being hit hardest and most severely. Read the rest of this entry »