Developing Income Proxy Models for Use by Title II-funded NGOs in Kenya: A Technical Report for NGOs and USAID/Kenya

Abstract

Introduction: Title II-funded NGOs in Kenya administer a range of interventions designed to enhance the welfare of rural households in vulnerable areas of the country. Many of these interventions are oriented towards USAID/Kenya’s Strategic Objective of increased household income in target areas. Yet measuring income in rural areas of Africa is difficult, due to the many different sources of income and the methodological challenges of quantifying each. The expense in human and other resources of collecting, cleaning, and processing good quality income data is beyond the capacity of all but dedicated research projects. To facilitate such reporting, Tegemeo Institute and MSU Department of Agricultural Economics worked with NGOs to develop income prediction models which the NGOs could use in future years to report on these outcomes. The main objective of this work was to develop an integrated package that would allow USAID-funded NGOs working in Kenya to monitor rural household income and income components using easy-to-collect proxy variables.