THE INFLUENCE OF CASH TRANSFERS INSTIGATED ASSET ACCUMULATION AND RETENTION ON POVERTY REDUCTION IN TURKANA WEST SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Poverty remains a global challenge to the development of many countries. Despite the fact that Kenya is making considerable progress in economic development, approximately 45.9% of the Country’s population still survives on less than US$ 1.25 per day. Cash transfers have been proven albeit with mixed results to be effecting in poverty reduction efforts world over. This study looks at the influence of cash transfer on addressing poverty reduction. It accomplishes two broad objectives: (1) demonstrates the relative influence of cash transfers on household’s productive asset accumulation for poverty reduction; and (2) it contributes to a growing body of evidence on the influence of state-sponsored cash transfer programmes in Kenya on household’s poverty. It embraced a mixed methods approach embedded with an explanatory research design for concurrent triangulation. The study interviewed a total of 296 respondents through HH questionnaires, KII Tool and FGD Guide. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic framework approach while quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential (correlations) statistics on SPSS. Results suggest that even with minimal investment in both productive and non-productive assets (M=2.47 and SD=0.99) from cash transfers, there is significant negative effect (r=0.146 and P=0.05) between asset accumulation and poverty reduction among targeted households. This implies that cash transfers correlate strongly with poverty reduction. Article visualizations: