An American billionaire and philanthropist has made a generous contribution to a donor funded project that will provide 26,000 poor Kenyans with a guaranteed free salary.
The program, dubbed GiveDirectly, has received the support of Pierre Omidyar - the billionaire eBay co-founder.
Omidyar has committed to giving millions of shillings to the donor project that seeks to achieve the Universal Basic Income (UBI) goals.
The money will be used to give poor Kenyans spread across over 200 villages cash transfers that will cushion them from poverty.
Those eligible will receive Sh75 per day, which is about Sh2,250 per month and equates to approximately half of what the average Kenyan earns as a monthly salary.
Out of the 26,000 targeted Kenyans, 6,000 will be given a long-time income for up to 12 years.
UBI is slowly gaining traction across the world with policy makers stating that it could be the solution to increasing the quality of life in poor communities and reducing the income inequality that has spread with the growth of capitalism.
Time magazine explains the idea as one where you, “give people a strings-free weekly, monthly or yearly stipend, enough so that their basic needs are taken care of, whether they work or not”.
Omidyar, who has been reported to have a net worth of Sh850 Billion, founded The Omidyar Network, which functions as both a charity and social impact investment firm.
Among the key leaders of the charity organisation is Kenyan activist and blogger Ory Okolloh-Mwangi who serves as the director of investments for Omidyar Network’s Governance & Citizen Engagement initiative in Africa.
