Publication: Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 in Kenya on Households: Rapid Response Phone Survey, Round 1
Date
2021-01
ISSN
Published
2021-01
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
The Kenya COVID-19 pandemic has
translated into critical socioeconomic impacts on Kenya’s
population, which must be understood to inform timely policy
responses. School closures, restrictions on movement, bans
on social gatherings, and limitations on economic activities
have hit Kenya’s socioeconomic life, creating negative
consequences, such as income losses and increased food
insecurity, which has been exacerbated by a locust invasion.
It is crucial to understand the socioeconomic effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic and identify the most critically affected
populations. Such an understanding can enable evidence-based
policies and programmatic responses. However, lack of
updated socioeconomic data hinders efforts to efficiently
allocate resources, for example, to roll out social
assistance programs. Thus, timely and frequent socioeconomic
data are needed to develop evidence-based measures and help
alleviate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19
Rapid Response Phone Survey (RRPS) aims to fill
socioeconomic data gaps while providing initial evidence to
inform targeted policy and programmatic responses. In the
context of the COVID-19 pandemic, face to-face surveys are
no longer feasible due to the risk of infection, as well as
mobility restrictions. In contrast, phone surveys are highly
suited for rapid and frequent data collection. To assess the
impacts of COVID-19 and help inform policy responses in
Kenya, the World Bank, in collaboration with the Kenya
National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and researchers from
the University of California, Berkeley, are implementing
RRPSs for: (i) Kenyan and refugee households, (ii)
microenterprises run by young entrepreneurs, and (iii)
formal enterprises. This note presents the findings and
makes policy recommendations for the first of three data
collection rounds of the RRPS for Kenyan households, while
providing preliminary findings on the RRPS for refugee
households and microenterprises.
Citation
“World Bank. 2021. Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 in Kenya on Households : Rapid Response Phone Survey, Round 1. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/35173 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”