Our Work
Save the Children's Child Poverty programme works to ensure children grow up in households that are economically secure, resilient, and able to meet their basic needs. We support vulnerable families to graduate out of extreme poverty through integrated approaches that combine cash and asset support, savings groups, livelihoods coaching, and stronger links to markets and social protection systems.
Our programmes strengthen resilient food systems and inclusive markets by promoting climate-smart agriculture, value addition, improved access to agricultural inputs, extension services, and nutrition-sensitive farming. We also equip young people, particularly women and other vulnerable groups, with market-relevant technical, digital, and life skills, while expanding opportunities for entrepreneurship, apprenticeships, and decent work.
To help communities withstand climate shocks, we invest in disaster risk reduction, early warning systems, anticipatory action, ecosystem restoration, and climate adaptation practices that protect livelihoods and reduce vulnerability. Working in partnership with government, the private sector, and development partners, we use evidence, learning, and adaptive management to continuously strengthen our programmes and deliver lasting impact for children and their families.
In 2025, 49,116 individuals were supported through social assistance, 814 individuals participated in resilience capacity programmes and 80 youth transitioned to decent employment.
Awale, in an orange T-shirt, 4, Kowsar, 3, and Abdi, with their mother, Amina, 25 in their home in a remote village in Garissa County, Kenya.
KEY FACTS
- Kenya’s labour market is under significant pressure from its youthful population, around 75% under age 35, with overall unemployment rate of 60%.
- Kenya’s food systems are highly vulnerable to climate shocks, with 80% of the country classified as arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) and about 95% of agriculture dependent on rainfall, leaving production exposed to increasing climate variability.
- Kenya’s social protection system reaches over 1.7 million households (approximately 6–7 million people) through flagship cash transfer programs. Only 10% of children are covered. Despite this progress, coverage remains insufficient relative to need.
- 30–40% of the population are regularly exposed to climate shocks, particularly recurrent droughts in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). Over 50% are children, meaning that they face heightened risks to their health, nutrition, protection, and livelihoods due to climate-related stresses