The aim of social protection policies is to protect the social wellbeing of people. Thistakes many forms including cash transfer programs to vulnerable groups, universal healthcare, feeding programs, and others. In Kenya, and to a large extent the global south, social protection policies sometimes seem to be a trade off between donor interests and what the people need.

This begs the question, how sustainable are these programs when they are influenced by international actors? African countries are all too familiar with the impact of the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) that were implemented by governments in the 1980’s. Hence, people worry that social protection policies might be abandoned to fit the demands of international actors leaving people who were already vulnerable worse off.

We talked to Dr. Marion Ouma who is an Expert on Social Protection and is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute. She holds a PhD in Social Policy and Social Protection from the University of South Africa.

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