| dc.description.abstract | The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of unconditional cash transfer
programmes on livelihoods of beneficiaries in Garissa County, Kenya. Specifically, the study
sought to examine the influence of UCTs’ disbursement, delivery mechanism and sustainability
on the livelihoods of beneficiaries. The study was anchored on income effect theory, economic
stimulus theory and human capital development theory. The study employed a mixed-methods
research design. Qualitative and quantitative data was used to fulfil the purpose of this study.
The target population for this study was the residents of Garissa County who are beneficiaries
of UCT. This includes elderly people, people living with severe disability and vulnerable
children. Thus sample size was 384 beneficiaries. Questionnaires were used to collect primary
data from residents. Interviews were also used to collect data from 10 government officials
from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Kenya. Data analysis was conducted after
the data was collected from the field. The data was sorted for completeness, then coded and
entered in SPSS version 26.0. The data collected was both quantitative and qualitative, and it
was processed and analysed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequencies, and
tables. Further, the study conducted correlation and regression analyses with the aim of
determining the relationships that exists between the study variables. The qualitative data was
analysed thematically guided by the study objectives. The study found and the study concluded
that UCTs’ disbursement and UCTs’ delivery mechanism were significant factors in
influencing beneficiaries’ livelihoods with significant value of .000 each. Further, the study
concludes that UCT’s sustainability insignificantly influenced the beneficiaries’ livelihoods. In
addition, UCTs’ disbursement was the most significant factor in the beneficiaries’ livelihoods
followed by UCTs’ Delivery Mechanism and eventually UCTs’ sustainability was an
insignificant factor in influencing beneficiaries’ livelihoods with significant value of .829. The
study recommends that Block Chain-Based UCT disbursement system should be implemented
which would provide a secure, transparent, and tamper-proof platform for transferring funds
directly to beneficiaries. In addition, it recommends that Mobile Money-Based UCTs Delivery
should be introduced which would revolutionize the delivery mechanism of UCTs in Garissa
County. Finally, the study recommends that program should allocate a portion of UCT funds
to invest in skills training and income-generating projects for beneficiaries. Equipping
recipients with valuable skills and resources, such as agricultural training, vocational skills, or
entrepreneurship programs, beneficiaries could create sustainable sources of income | en_US |
