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The Ministry of Labour and partners dealing with children’s affairs are proposing the scaling up of a social protection programme whose pilot in three counties has recorded promising health outcomes and improved the incomes of the families involved.

Established in 2017 to address gaps in such schemes, the Universal Child Benefit (UCB) project has come of age, and now experts think it should include more children, open age brackets for those to be considered, and increase the amount of money per child per month.

The initiative was piloted in Kisumu, Kajiado and Embu counties and targeted 8,300 children aged 0-36 months who received Sh800 per child per month.

The UCB has had a positive impact on the beneficiaries, contributing to nutritional and food security and decreasing stunted and underweight children, said Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation dealing with children’s affairs.

And now the Health ministry wants it expanded.

“The UCB pilot focused on children 0-36 months [under three years] but it is feasible for future interventions to target children under five in keeping with the Ministry of Health’s nutritional targets,” said Richard Obiga, senior programmes officer at the Ministry of Labour.

The pilot targeted 8,300 children but ended up with about 7,000.

Obiga hopes that once the national rollout kicks off, a few counties and sub-counties that have the worst outcomes on nutrition nationally will be considered first.

“We are still some steps away from the national rollout – to be sincere – because we are making proposals – meaning we are looking at the best option that is also sustainable for the government to have in place,” Obiga said.

“Some of the questions we are asking ourselves include, do we do it zero to 17 nationally or do we do it zero to three years, nationally, or we begin with certain geography, certain counties, so that it is feasible financially, and can be afforded.”

In a proposal being evaluated at a higher level in the ministry, Obiga said, a team working on this issue has suggested that the amount per child be increased from Sh800 to Sh1,000.