Social Protection programming is one form of humanitarian responses which has been used to
address basic needs and/or to protect, establish or re-establish livelihoods or economic
productive activities. Many studies have demonstrated the use of Social protection in form o
cash transfers (sometimes in the form of vouchers) to assist populations affected by disastei
particularly where employment, income, livelihood or economic production opportunities have
been lost. Based on Cumulative and Cyclical Interdependencies theory, this study sought to
establish from the experiences o f the beneficiaries and other community members and
stakeholders, the extent to which social protection activities has contributed to household's
livelihoods as well as examining the extent to which income distribution affects household’s
livelihoods. It also sought to establish the local community’s perception on how social protection
activities affect households’ livelihoods. The study population of 304 project participants from
six villages of Mukuru slums were targeted. The research study used mixed method approach of
study design. Stratified sampling method was used to select 174 respondents based on gender.
Primary data was collected through self-administered questionnaire to '.he social protection
participants. Data analysis was done in two phases: data entry into Microsoft excel and data
cleaning. Data analysis of the quantitative information was done using Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18.0. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the basic
features of the data in the study. The study looked at the characteristics of variables namely: the
distribution, the central tendency and analysis o f variance (ANOVA). The )dds ratio (OR) with
95% confidence interval (Cl) was used to identify the association between variables o f soci.d
support. Qualitative data were coded against the set parameters of the researcl bjectives an
appropriately organized for analysis. Information provided by partners and local organizations
were recorded as their perceptions and later used to cross-check, data provided by the social
support beneficiaries. Majority o f the respondents (82.08%) engaged in sales of goods and
services within the Mukuru Villages as the main source o f their income. The average monthly
net income from social support initiated businesses was found to be KSh 4794.20 with a clear
indication that almost all the beneficiaries had almost equal gains from business initiated by
social support as opposed to the other Income Generating Activities (IGA). The studs confirmed
that both male and female project participants use their income to support household basic, needs.
However, there was some deviation from the norm, where more men seemed to use their income
for purchasing food (90.3%) than women at 83.2%, health seeking. The study noted both
negative and positive effects of social protection activities within the communities. These
included; high dependency, child labour and high school drop outs as w'ell as transformaiion i i
the lives ot beneficiaries, their household and indirectly others from the targeted communities.
Since many actors are adopting social protection as a strategy for poverty eradication, the
researcher recommends to the actors to target the urban poor other than concentration on the
rural poor only. This will ensure that the gap between the poor and the rich is reduced. There i>.
also the need for gender equality in project targeting other than just concentrating on women i.
order to enhance balance in participation. It is also suggested that further research investigates
the impact o f the intervention under study on livelihoods o f other households within the slum
communities.