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

Understanding the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is important to inform policy responses. The arrival of COVID-19 disrupted lives across all countries and communities, creating unprecedented challenges. As of August 2021, there have been more than 200 million cases globally, with more than 4 million deaths. Throughout the pandemic, governments have adopted measures to curb the spread of the virus, which inadvertently resulted in socioeconomic impacts. To shape and accelerate the recovery, it is important to better understand the implications of the pandemic and its associated restrictions. The strict containment measures that were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya had negative socioeconomic impacts. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya in March 2020, a range of containment measures were introduced by the Government of Kenya (GoK). These included the promotion of social distancing practices, restrictions on public gatherings, night curfews, shutting down learning institutions, and limits on public transport passenger capacities. Despite this, the number of cases reached 200,000 in August 2021, with more than 4,000 deaths. People were facing job losses, rising food insecurity, and worsening health and education outcomes. Understanding and quantifying the repercussions of the pandemic, particularly on different sub-groups of the population, can help to inform policies and improve targeting