Volume 3, Number 1

After Kenya’s independence in June 1963, the Government of Kenya (GoK), in its first formal development planning initiative developed Sessional Paper number 10 of 1965 in which poverty, ignorance and disease were identified as major impediments to development. These three dimensions have been at the center of GoK’s development initiatives. Since then, poverty has been at the center of development programmes by the GoK as demonstrated by poverty allevi- ation and development programmes rolled out by the GoK so far including the District Focus for Rural Development; Social Dimensions of Development (SDD) programmes; the National Poverty Eradication Plan (NPEP); Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP); Economic Recovery Strategy Paper (ERS) and Vision 2030. This paper seeks to give a new direction in the successful search for a poverty alleviation solution at the household level.

This paper advances a hypothesis that the fight against poverty is failing due to the macro-based approach adopted by the GoK.

This paper advances a hypothesis that the fight against poverty can succeed if a micro-based ap- proach focusing on the household is adopted. The paper further advances a personal financial planning model which is hypothesized to be a solution to household poverty.

Keywords: Financial planning; Poverty, and Poverty alleviation; Household