Launch of Comprehensive Poverty Report, Women Empowerment Report, 47 County Poverty and Budget Briefs
Date:
Nairobi, 10th August 2020 – As Kenya marks 10 years since the devolution of responsibility for various public services to county governments, a series of reports are being launched today namely:
i) Comprehensive Poverty Report- utilized data from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS) 2015-16 covering national, rural, urban and county levels.
ii) 47 County Poverty Briefs – a summary of the Comprehensive poverty report, based on 2015/16 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS).
iii) Women Empowerment Report- based on 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey and covered national, urban and rural levels.
iv) 47 County Budget Briefs – analyzed social sectors’ budgets for the period 2014/15-2017/18 focusing on health, education, child protection, youth and women services, water and sanitation, and nutrition.
The comprehensive poverty report and 47 county poverty briefs were produced by the Kenya Bureau of National Statistics (KNBS) in collaboration with UNICEF and UN Women while women empowerment report was developed by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in partnership with the State Department for Gender, UN Women and UNICEF. The Women Empowerment Index provides the first comprehensive and systematic measure for women and girls’ empowerment in Kenya. The 47 County Budget Briefs were produced by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) in collaboration with UNICEF, UN Women and UNDP. Both KNBS and KIPPRA are State Corporations under The National Treasury and Planning.
Rationale for the studies
There are various policy frameworks that currently support measurement of poverty using different approaches, namely monetary and multidimensional dimensions. The policy frameworks include:
a. Sustainable Development Goals- That aims to eradicate poverty in all forms everywhere. SDG Target 1.2 by 2030, aims to reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all dimensions.
a) African Union Agenda 2063: Aspiration 1 aims to eradicate poverty in one generation and build shared prosperity through social and economic transformation of the continent.
b) Constitution of Kenya (2010) Article 43: Recognizes that wellbeing is multidimensional.
c) Kenya Vision 2030: Vision for gender, youth and vulnerable groups is to eradicate poverty and ensure adequate human resource capital for sustainable development.
d) Third Medium Term Plan (MTP III) (2018-2022): Supports realization of Vision 2030
e) Achievement of the “Big Four” (2018-2022): Targets access to Universal Health Coverage, food security and improved nutrition, affordable housing and manufacturing for job creation.
The women’s empowerment index provides a baseline for future monitoring of women’s empowerment and development. The Index provides the first comprehensive and systematic measure for women and girl’s empowerment in Kenya.
The new evidences from County Budget Briefs will support decision making for effective and efficient results targeting and social sector resource utilization across all Counties.
Methodology, Data and Coverage
Comprehensive poverty Report and 47 County poverty briefs
These two reports utilized the two approaches, notably; monetary and multidimensional approaches.
- For multidimensional poverty, the analysis utilized the Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA).
A child/youth/adult woman/adult man/elderly is considered multidimensionally poor if she/he is deprived in 3 or more dimensions (education, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, economic activity and information).
- For monetary poverty analysis, the standard household budget expenditure method was applied.
A child/youth/adult woman/adult man/elderly is considered monetarily poor if she/he lives was in a household with monthly expenditure below the set poverty line (KSh 5,995 for Urban and KSh 3,252 for rural).
The analyses for the poverty reports, utilized data from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS) 2015-16 covering national, rural, urban and county levels.
Women Empowerment Report
Measuring women’s empowerment involves a process of change which results from one’s ability to make choices. There are three main interrelated domains that together create the conducive environment for empowerment or not.
Three interrelated domains are:
a) Resources/preconditions of empowerment: economic resources (e.g. income) and human and social resources.
b) Agency/the process of exercising choice: Instrumental agency (e.g. household decision-making) and Intrinsic agency (e.g. attitudes towards issues pertaining specifically to women’s wellbeing).
c) Achievements/outcomes: extent to which potential is realized and whether it has transformative power (e.g. utilization of antenatal care services).
These results based on data collected from women aged between 15 and 49 years during the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, the Women’s Empowerment Index is strongly rooted in existing legislation and policies and covered national, urban and rural areas.
The 47 County Budget Briefs
The 47 County Budget Briefs provide an analysis of how the County Governments plan and budget in support of the needs of children, youth and women in Kenya. The briefs themed “Eyes on the Budgets” focused on budgeting and outcomes in health, education, child protection services, water and sanitation, and nutrition.
The focus was predicated on the recognition that investing in children, as well as youth and women is critical to achieving inclusive, equitable and sustainable development for present and future generations. It is envisaged that the County Budget Briefs will inform the implementation of County Integrated Development Plans and design of feasible social sectors strategies while ensuring inclusivity and sustainability of county economies.
Key findings
a) The Comprehensive Poverty Report (CPR)
In line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Government has made a first official attempt to compare multidimensional and monetary poverty across different age groups and assess to what extent they are associated. The analysis finds that:
i) Overall, the results show that across all age groups, multidimensional poverty was 53 per cent compared to monetary poverty which was 36.1 per cent in 2015/2016.
ii) About one in two Kenyans are “multidimensionally poor”, meaning that they lack access to three or more of the following: safe drinking water; nutritious food; immunization; quality housing; and education.
- Among children under 5 years, deprivation in housing, nutrition and sanitation were the three largest contributors to multidimensional poverty.
- Among children aged 5-17 years, deprivation in nutrition, housing and sanitation are the three largest contributors to multidimensional poverty.
- Among the youths, deprivation in housing, education and nutrition are the three largest contributors to multidimensional youth poverty in Kenya.
- Most youth are deprived of more than one basic need or service and the incidence of deprivation is higher in youths in urban areas.
- Deprivation in education, housing and economic activity are the largest contributors to multidimensional poverty among adult women and men in Kenya
- Deprivation in education (illiteracy rate), housing and nutrition are the largest contributors to multidimensional poverty among the elderly in Kenya
iii) Children contribute more to the poverty- Approximately 1 in 2 poor persons in Kenya was a child using either of the multidimensional or monetary poverty. The share of the poor children was 48 per cent for multidimensional and 55 per cent for monetary poverty approach.
iv) Nearly half of youth aged 18-34 years (48 per cent or 6.4 million) are multidimensionally poor and experience an average of 4.1 deprivations out of the 7 analysed.
v) Six (6) in ten (10) adult women and men aged 35-59 years (61 per cent or 4.8 million) are multidimensionally poor and experience an average of 4.4 deprivations out of the 7 analysed.
vi) The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly include a target on reducing multidimensional poverty. In particular, SDG target 1.2 refers to reducing by half the proportion of women, men and children living in poverty in all its dimensions. This report provides he baseline against which to evaluate our progress towards this goal.
b) Women’s Empowerment Index:
For the women aged 15-49 years, the findings show that:
i) About 29 per cent of women in Kenya between the ages of 15 and 49 years are empowered.
ii) Women in urban areas are nearly twice as likely to be empowered compared to those in rural areas, with incidence rates of 40 and 22 per cent, respectively.
iii) Only 6 per cent of women belonging to the poorest wealth quintile are empowered compared to those in the richest wealth quintile (53 per cent) per cent.
iv) Incidence of women’s empowerment is slightly higher among households headed by men (30 per cent) compared to those headed by women (28 per cent).
v) Disaggregation of empowerment by women’s age group shows that younger women are more likely to empowered, especially compared to women aged 40-49 years.
vi) Women in more educated households in Kenya are more empowered. Only 10 per cent of women in households where the head - whether male or female - has no education are empowered. This is compared to 39 per cent in households headed by a person with a secondary education and 62 per cent for households in which the head has higher education.
vii) Women with fewer children are more likely to be empowered. 41 per cent of women with no children are empowered as compared to 36 per cent, 24 per cent and 13 per cent of women having 1-2 children, 3-4 children and 5+ children respectively.
c) The 47 County Budget Briefs
The County budget analysis show that:
i) Across the counties, a large share of the gross county product (GCP) comes from agriculture. Counties have potential to invest in agro-processing value chains, manufacturing and services.
ii) In most counties, there was an improvement in key health indicators of children and women including child immunization (from 58.6 in 2014 to 77.0 per cent in 2018) and access of women to skilled delivery (from 41.7 per cent in 2014 to 64.9 per cent in 2018). These improvements correspond to the increase in health spending and introduction of the free maternity services in 2013.
iii) The share of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) budget increased during the review period; and there is need for expansion of physical and supporting infrastructure for ECDE.
iv) There seems to be inadequate planning and budgeting for direct nutrition interventions, across several sectors such agriculture, education and health.
v) The budget execution rate for most social sector budgets, especially health, water and sanitation, was low.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion
a) Kenya is able to report on SDG Target 1.2 which aims at measuring the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all dimensions.
b) Generally, we have a tool and a baseline for continuous reporting on women. empowerment.
c) Kenya has to move forward and mainstream poverty using the two approaches.
d) The budget execution rate for most crucial social sector budgets, especially water and sanitation was low.
e) There was limited disaggregation of data in expenditure reports on some crucial social services such as nutrition, child protection, youth development, disability and gender mainstreaming.
Recommendations
a) The Bureau will review the KDHS tool and integrate questions that can capture Women Empowerment.
b) The next KDHS sample design will also be adjusted to capture county level estimates.
c) Women Empowerment will be made a regular indicator to track empowerment.
d) Kenya Continuous Household Survey program will provide timely data for more regular reports.
e) To improve budget utilization rates, there is need for the national and County treasuries to disburse resources to social sectors on time. On its part, the counties should strengthen procurement systems and improve cash flow forecasting.
f) Finally, it will be important for Counties to enhance data disaggregation and introduce standalone budget line for critical children, youth and women sensitive services and nutrition support.