How COVID-19 Continues to Affect Livelihoods in Kenya - Rapid Response Phone Survey Rounds 1 to 5 - Policy Note

Jul 19, 2026

Policy note synthesizing findings from Kenya’s Rapid Response Phone Survey across Rounds 1 to 5 on how COVID-19 continued to affect livelihoods. The document examines poverty impacts through multiple channels, including labor and non-labor income dynamics, inequality effects, and projected welfare changes. It analyzes livelihood coping strategies and food insecurity, and assesses human capital outcomes covering education, early childhood development, health, well-being, and knowledge. It also documents perceptions and behavioral change, supported by detailed annex methodology including sampling, weighting, and microsimulations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages85

Reading Time3 h 34 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

The Poverty Impact of COVID-19

Channels of Impact

Impact on Poverty and Inequality

Livelihood Impacts, Coping Strategies and Food Insecurity

Employment

Non-Labor Income

Coping Strategies

Food Security

Human Capital: Education, Health, Well-Being and Knowledge

Education

Early Childhood Development

Health

Perceptions and Behavioral Change

Subjective Well-Being

Knowledge, Behavior and Government Perception

Annex: Detailed Methodology

Design and Survey Instrument

Sampling and Weighting

Microsimulations

Existing and New Poor Profiles

Job Quality Index

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized HOW COVID-19 CONTINUES TO AFFECT LIVELIHOODS IN KENYA RAPID RESPONSE PHONE SURVEY ROUNDS 1 TO 5 10/16/2021 Acknowledgement This policy note was prepared by a team led by Utz Pape (Senior Economist, EAEPV) and Antonia Delius (ET Consultant, EAEPV) . The team consisted of Alastair Haynes (ET Consultant, EAEPV), Emma Cameron (Consultant, HAEE1), Rhea Gupta (Consultant, EAEPV), Ritika Khandelwal (Consultant, EAEPV), Samuel Siewers (Consultant, EAEPV), and Yuanwei Xu (Consultant, EAEPV), with additional contributions from Emanuele Clemente (Consultant, EAEPV), and Florence Nimoh (UNHCR) . The team is grateful for technical guidance received from Gonzalo Nunez (Consultant, EAEPV) . The team would like to express its gratitude to Remit for the outstanding efforts on data collection. In particular, the team would like to thank the manager, Carolyne Nekesa, and the field manager, Sam Balongo, leading the data collection and the enumerators as well as supervisors collecting data. The team would like to thank the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, for their vision, commitment to this work and collaboration in the efforts of data collection. In particular, the team would like to thank Theresa Beltramo (UNHCR) and Dennis Egger (University of California, Berkeley) for their contributions. The PROSPECTS partnership program, funded through the Multi Donor Trust Fund for Forced Displacement (FDTF) administered by the World Bank, contributed to the collaboration between the World Bank and the UNHCR facilitating the inclusion of refugees in the rapid response phone surveys. Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... VIII A. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 B. THE POVERTY IMPACT OF COVID-19 ........................................................................................... 5 CHANNELS OF IMPACT 5 IMPACT ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY 6 C. LIVELIHOOD IMPACTS, COPING STRATEGIES AND FOOD INSECURITY .........................................14 EMPLOYMENT 14 NON-LABOR INCOME 25 COPING STRATEGIES 28 FOOD SECURITY 32 D. HUMAN CAPITAL: EDUCATION, HEALTH, WELL-BEING AND KNOWLEDGE...................................39 EDUCATION 39 EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT 44 HEALTH 46 E. PERCEPTIONS AND BEHAVIORAL CHANGE .................................................................................51 SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 51 KNOWLEDGE, BEHAVIOR AND GOVERNMENT PERCEPTION 52 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................57 F. ANNEX: DETAILED METHODOLOGY ...........................................................................................60 DESIGN AND SURVEY INSTRUMENT 60 SAMPLING AND WEIGHTING 61 MICROSIMULATIONS 68 EXISTING AND NEW POOR PROFILES 70 JOB QUALITY INDEX 71 List of Figures Figure 0-1: Projected poverty headcount change-2020 ............................................................................. x Figure 0-2: Poverty headcount-2020 .......................................................................................................... x Figure A-1: Google mobility data and Oxford stringency index.................................................................... 2 Figure A-2: COVID-19 cases and RRPS timeline in Kenya.............................................................................. 2 Figure A-3: Vaccination in Kenya, 2021 ........................................................................................................ 3 Figure A-4: Weekly results d

FAQs

What survey rounds does the report cover?

The document covers Rapid Response Phone Survey rounds 1 to 5 in Kenya.

Which livelihood areas are analyzed in relation to COVID-19?

It examines poverty impacts, livelihood coping strategies, employment and non-labor income, and food security outcomes.

Does the report include education and health components?

Yes. It includes human capital sections covering education, early childhood development, health, well-being, and knowledge.

Jul 19, 2026

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