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Kenya - Cash Transfer to Schools Nairobi County Informal Settlements Market Assessment, April 2015

https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000069378/download/

In collaboration with the Government of Kenya - and in particular the County Government of Nairobi - WFP is exploring to introduce a cash-based, locally procured school feeding model in the informal settlements of Nairobi by September 2015, in the 94 primary schools in seven different informal settlements of the city currently being supported by WFP. This model will empower local stakeholders, boost the local economy, and potentially translate into cost savings. Cash will be disbursed into school accounts and each individual school will procure the school meals basket each term in the nearby markets, with a preliminary start date for implementation being September 2015.

While plenty of secondary information exists on food prices and supply chain dynamics in Nairobi, this data is limited to the large market hubs. Prior to this assessment there was limited information on prices or supply chain structures for the informal settlements markets.



The overall objective was to establish the capacity of Nairobi informal settlements markets to supply the food basket of the Nairobi County school meals programme throughout the school year.

The aim was to provide a comparative gauge of the feasibility and risks associated to the implementation of cash-based interventions to schools. This was be done by analyzing:

  • How food is being made available in Nairobi County, how markets are structured, and which actors contribute to their functioning;
  • To what extent the different types of markets and traders are able to respond to the increase in demand that can be expected from a transition towards a cash-based interventions.