Kenya is experimenting with universal basic income. Here’s what the US could learn about no-strings payments.

GiveDirectly — a nonprofit that has helped administer basic income programs around the world — is leading Kenya’s pilot, which began in 2018.

Unlike most government assistance, basic income allows individuals and families the freedom to spend money where they need it most, instead of programs like SNAP and Medicaid which have specific spending categories.

Dustin Palmer, US country director for GiveDirectly, said that trusting families with cash is the best method to “help people get on their feet.”

“This is a way of thinking about how we support families, children, all sorts of folks in a way that meets them where they are,” Palmer previously told Business Insider.

Kenya’s program is considered to be universal basic income because families don’t have to meet specific income criteria to participate. In guaranteed basic income programs run in the US, participants must have a household income at or below a certain percentage of the federal poverty line. However, about half of Kenya’s participants are living below the country’s extreme poverty line, per GiveDirectly, which means surviving on less than $33 a month or $400 a year without government assistance.

Participants were sorted into three randomized groups: the first group received $22.50 a month (2,925 KES) for 12 years; the second group received $22.50 a month for two years; and the third group received one $500 lump-sum payment (65,000 KES) at the start of the program. Researchers are also studying a control group of similar villages that did not receive cash.

GiveDirectly plans to survey participants through 2030, when the long-term UBI participants are set to receive their final payment. GiveDirectly researchers are looking to understand the impacts of long vs. short-term UBI support, as families aim to afford basic needs and build sustainable wealth.

Community leaders in the US are noticing the lessons of Kenya’s pilot. Michael Tubbs, chair and founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, visited Kenya in December 2023. Tubbs’ 2019 GBI pilot in Stockton, California, began the wave of cash aid programs in America, and he said Kenya’s pilot is a successful model for helping families escape extreme poverty.

“Whether at home or abroad, we need to recognize that dignity is a human right—and a right that poverty directly violates,” Tubbs wrote in an essay about the UBI pilot. “But by trusting people to do right by their families and communities — because we know they will — we can ensure that right is secured.”

UBI pilot helped families in Kenya meet basic needs and begin building wealth

GiveDirectly’s initial report on the Kenya UBI pilot captures participant experiences in their first two years of receiving payments, from 2018 to 2020.

All participants said basic income improved their housing and food security, mental health, and household savings. Participants also reported net growth for village businesses and lessened inequality in their community.

UBI made participants over 6% happier and more satisfied with their lives, per the GiveDirectly report, and lessened household stress by 10% — despite most participants maintaining the same work schedule as they had before the pilot began. Families were also able to buy more nutritious food, invest in more assets, and spend money at local businesses, which likely contributed to an overall 23% increase in average consumption among all participants.

Still, some results vary between specific UBI groups. Families in the lump-sum payment group said they were able to make strong investments, while the families enrolled in the full 12 years of UBI felt more comfortable building savings and taking financial risks.

Families receiving long-term support experienced lower rates of domestic violence and better educational outcomes for their primary school-age children.

For participants enrolled in the two-year group, UBI allowed them to cover basic expenses in the short term, but they weren’t able to build savings or lasting wealth.

Kenya’s long-term approach to basic income could help more families in America

Although most basic income pilots around the world provide participants with support over a set time period, Kenya’s is one of the first to study the impacts of long-term cash aid.

Short-term basic income — which is the most common model used in the US — was the least successful among Kenyan participants, as it didn’t allow families to build lasting financial security.

“Policymakers wanting to reduce poverty by creating wealth and independence should rethink using this popular design, as both a long-term UBI and a large lump sum were found to be significantly more transformative,” per the results report from GiveDirectly.

With lump sum and long-term basic income, participants were able to both meet their immediate needs and begin building assets and savings for the future. These forms of UBI dramatically improved families’ economic outlook, and the researchers said it is the best way to help participants facing extreme poverty.

To be sure, the researchers said more data is needed to fully understand how lump sum or long-term UBI could work in high-income countries. It would be more costly to run longer basic income programs in the US, and it’s unclear if the benefits to families would outweigh the costs.

Kenyan participants will complete their next UBI survey in 2025, and the program is set to continue for another six years.

GiveDirectly is trying other basic income programs in Africa. In Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya, the nonprofit gave about $1,000 to refugees. And families in Malawi who survived 2023’s Cyclone Freddy received a total of $750 over three months beginning in December.

Have you benefited from a guaranteed basic income program? Are you open to sharing how you spent the money? If so, reach out to allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.