Kenya’s progress in extending life expectancy needs to be matched by stronger social protection systems that help people age with health, independence and dignity, rather than waiting until vulnerability becomes a crisis, Suqoon founder Shakira Khawaja says.
Khawaja has called for a more preventive and person-centred approach to ageing, including greater efforts to protect the health of older people, preserve their independence and enable them to remain economically and socially active. She made the remarks during discussions on social protection for older people at the Fourth Kenya Social Protection Conference in Nairobi.
“We worked hard for people to live longer. Now let us make sure our systems are ready for those longer lives, and that those lives are lived with function, contribution and dignity,” she said.
Kenya’s life expectancy at birth stood at 63.8 years in 2024, according to World Bank data, while the country’s population aged 60 and above is projected to rise to 6.4 million by 2045 from 2.7 million in 2020, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The demographic shift is putting increasing pressure on systems designed when Kenya had a much younger population. The World Bank has warned that the majority of Kenyans, particularly informal-sector workers and people outside the formal labour force, remain without adequate income security in old age.
Kenya’s National Safety Net Programme, known as Inua Jamii, had reached nearly 2 million households in 2024, according to the World Bank, but coverage remained below half of households living in poverty. The bank also said benefits were too small to significantly reduce poverty, covering only 12.2% of poor households’ consumption and having fallen 34.2% in real terms since 2012.
The government provides a monthly cash transfer of 2,000 Kenyan shillings ($15.5) to eligible people aged 70 and above who are not receiving a pension, under the Older Persons Cash Transfer programme. The benefit is paid every two months.
Khawaja noted that social protection should extend beyond cash payments to address the health, housing, mobility and caregiving challenges that can push older people into dependency.
A fall at home, she said, can result in a fracture, hospitalisation, loss of mobility and dependence on relatives, potentially forcing a family member to leave work to provide care. Suqoon, working with partners including Safaricom and the Chandaria Foundation, modifies older people’s homes to reduce the risk of falls.
“That grab rail is not just a renovation. It is health protection. It is caregiver protection. It is social protection,” she said.
Khawaja urged delegates to include three priorities in the conference’s Call to Action: closing what she described as a protection gap between age 60, when Kenya’s Constitution recognises a person as an older person, and age 70, when the Older Persons Cash Transfer begins; protecting older people’s income, property and assets from abuse; and maintaining non-digital routes for people who cannot independently access digital payments and services.
She also called for progress on the Older Persons Bill, 2024, which she said had not yet been tabled in parliament after public participation ended in 2024.
The push comes as Kenya seeks to expand its broader social protection system. In 2025, the World Bank approved $127.5 million in financing for the second Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project, designed to strengthen safety-net delivery and expand support for vulnerable groups, including older people. The project is intended to complement existing cash transfers with economic inclusion, savings and resilience measures.
The World Bank has said ageing populations require social protection systems that combine adequate income support with measures that allow people to remain economically active for longer. Globally, only about one in three workers contributes to a pension scheme, with coverage falling to about one in 10 workers in low-income countries, the bank said.
Khawaja remarkaed that Kenya’s ageing population should also be viewed as an economic and social resource rather than solely as a group requiring assistance.
“An elder is not where the life cycle closes. She is where it turns. When we invest in an older person, the return does not stop with her. It moves through the family, the community and into the next generation,” she said.
Older people participating in Suqoon’s community activities in Nairobi’s Mathare and Embakasi areas said social connection was as important as financial support.
“We need more conversations between generations. Young people need to understand what older people go through and why they need to be cared for. There is a lot that younger people can learn from older people,” said 64-year-old Ann Wanjiru Mbuthia, organising secretary at Mathare Older Persons Network.
“Suqoon has given us a space where we can come together, talk and interact. Sometimes an older person can stay in the house for many days without going anywhere. Having this space gives us a reason to come out and feel part of the community,” said Peter Oyugi, 65, from Embakasi.
The Fourth Kenya Social Protection Conference ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 under the theme “Re-imagining Social Protection in an evolving socio-economic landscape and climate change: Strengthening Adaptive, Transformative and Sustainable Social Protection Systems for Inclusive Development in Kenya.”
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David Goldblatt (South Africa)
Most Famous Photo: His extensive body of work documenting life under and after apartheid, such as “A white child,
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Short Bio: David Goldblatt (1930-2018) was a seminal South African photographer renowned for his incisive and
nuanced documentation of the social and political landscape of his country. His work, primarily in black and white, explored the complex realities of apartheid and its aftermath, capturing the subtle ways in which power, race, and class shaped daily life.
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