The Effects of Cash Transfer Programs on Kenya's Sustainable Development Agenda: Evidence from the Literature Review

Cash transfer programs (CTPs) have increasingly been embraced as critical mechanisms of social protection and poverty reduction especially in climate-exposed and chronic poverty-stricken regions. Nevertheless, while current research has extensively explored their impact on poverty reduction, food security, and resilience, relatively less has been written about their implications for dependency and sustainable development. This review explores the impacts of cash transfers on sustainable development and how dependency affects the resilience of households and the process of social cohesion and livelihood transformation in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) in Kenya. Utilizing the systematic review methodology, the review analyses information from scholarly articles, reports, policy documents and development literature from Google Scholar, JSTOR and ResearchGate. A total of 68 documents meet the inclusion criteria and have been analyzed using the qualitative thematic approach. Results show that CTPs play a significant role in consumption, food security and resilience building among vulnerable groups. However, dependency is likely to arise in situations characterized by frequent climatic shocks, low integration with the market, weak infrastructure and few livelihood opportunities. The review further finds that exclusion and perceived inequality in the implementation of the programs can result in social dissatisfaction and reduced social cohesion and sustainable self-reliance. The review highlights that dependency should not only be looked at from the behavioral angle but also from structural and programmatic perspective. Finally, the review concludes that the contribution of CTPs to sustainable development depends on their contribution to enhancing absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacities through integrated and resilient social protection programs.