Case study: The Future of Government-to-Person (G2P) Payments: Innovating for Customer Choice in Kenya

In 2018, Kenya’s Ministry of Labour and Social Protection launched the newest phase of its social safety net programme Inua Jamii with an audacious goal: provide all beneficiaries with a full bank account and offer them a choice among four financial services providers. As of December 2019, the Inua Jamii programme had reached 1.2 million beneficiaries across four programmes targeting particularly vulnerable groups in Kenya.

In this case study, FSD Kenya examines how the Inua Jamii programme gradually introduced payments digitisation, then choice to design a programme that has successfully scaled to reach the most vulnerable groups in Kenya. The study looks at how the Kenyan government sought to offer beneficiaries’ choice, convenience, and ultimately, greater dignity in how they access and use their safety net payments and other financial services.