Journal of Economic and Social Dynamics

Abstract

This paper critically evaluates Kenya's Consolidated Social Protection Fund. Anchored by the Inua Jamii programme and the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) as an instrument for addressing poverty and inequality. Drawing on theoretical contributions and empirical literature on social protection and inequality, alongside empirical evidence from Kenya's household surveys, Food and Agricul tural Organization (FAO) Transfer Project evaluations, and comparative data from South Africa and Brazil, the paper argues that Kenya's fund is a necessary but structurally insufficient tool for achieving distributional equity. Micro-level evidence confirms meaningful gains in food security, consumption, and local economic ac tivity among beneficiaries, yet Kenya's Gini coefficient has remained stubbornly elevated. Declining modestly from 0.470 in 2005/06 to 0.404 in 2015/16 before stagnating, while income-based estimates place it as high as 51.3 as of 2019 [1,2]. The paper concludes that closing the gap between alleviation and equity requires systematic integration of social protection with progressive taxation, labour market reform, and institutional capacity investment