Country: Kenya Source: Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development While Kenya demonstrates sustained steady economic growth, the gains remain uneven. Poverty, inequality and regional disparities persist, especially in arid and semi-arid counties, which cover 80% of the country’s land mass. Societal gaps continue to limit the full participation of women, and other marginalised groups, and they suffer greater hurdles to recover from crises, including exclusion from assistance, especially material assistance. Climate shocks, including recurring droughts and floods, are intensifying existing vulnerabilities and eroding household resilience. In times of crisis, communities in need of support require assistance that is versatile to suit their needs and support recovery. In this context, the Kenya Cash Consortium (KCC) plays a critical role in supporting crisis-affected communities to meet their most urgent needs, as they define and prioritise them, in a flexible, dignified manner. Since 2019, the KCC has been continuously providing timely, life-saving cash assistance to communities across Kenya. Led by Acted in partnership with the ASAL Humanitarian Network, Oxfam Kenya, Concern Worldwide and IMPACT Initiatives, the KCC’s objective is to deliver timely cash assistance to communities affected by various shocks including natural disasters, conflict and displacement. Over the years, the KCC has developed tools, systems and mechanisms to provide targeted and timely multi-sectoral responses based on needs prioritisation and continuous market monitoring, enabling the consortium to offer assistance to over 500, 000 individuals. The KCC works through a locally-led approach with more than 30 local NGOs engaged in response delivery and county-level monitoring, data collection and coordination with county governments. The KCC’s approach is guided by the understanding that how assistance is delivered, the scale of delivery, and what partners are engaged, account for the largest gains and losses in efficiency and effectiveness. 2026: Scaling MPCA through Coordinated and Locally-led Action In 2026, the KCC, with support from the European Commission (DG ECHO), is implementing an action focused on providing Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) to crisis–affected communities across Kenya. Under the 9-month intervention, the KCC aims to reach over 28, 000 individuals across the country. This includes communities across Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid lands affected by increasingly recurrent climate-related crises such as drought and flooding. Other key beneficiaries are refugees who, despite receiving protection and nutrition assistance, are at risk of falling further into vulnerability. These groups are referred through key protection and referral actors in Kenya to receive MPCA as an additional layer to support recovery. This approach and the collaboration established between sectoral leaders also positions the KCC as a leader in adopting ‘MPCA first’ as a guiding principle to increase value for recipients. The impact of this assistance will be amplified through dedicated efforts to coordinate with other key humanitarian actors, including through ongoing support to the Kenya Cash Working Group, most notably under the REACH Initiatives-led Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI), the INGO Forum, and OCHA’s Kenya Humanitarian Partners Team (KHPT). Further, the KCC will continue critical work in disaster-preparedness in Kenya, leading on county-level and national-level stakeholder engagement to advocate for concrete policy and action to protect Kenyan communities from recurring or predictable crises. Our aim under this action is not just to transfer resources; but to transfer choice, dignity and hope. By empowering people to prioritize their own needs, we enable communities to recover faster and build resilience for the future Abdirizak Kontoma, Kenya Cash Consortium Coordinator and Project Manager, on the goals of the 2026 action. Through this action, the KCC aims to reinforce its role as a provider of flexible, efficient humanitarian assistance, leveraging strong partnerships and coordination to maximise impact, strengthen resilience, and advance a more coherent and forward-looking response to recurrent crises in Kenya.
Locally Led, Adaptive Cash Assistance for Disaster-Affected Communities Across Kenya
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