KENYA DURING THE START OF COVID-19: Response & Recovery Actions to Manage the Pandemic

In this report, we seek to shed light on response and recovery actions to manage the COVID-19 pandemic that were undertaken in Kenya. Over the last ten years, the Government of Kenya has adopted a devolved system of government, delegating policy and services to county levels. The COVID-19 outbreak offered the country an opportunity to evaluate its pandemic preparedness and response capacity including the role of multisectoral coordination through its national disaster framework. 

Using findings from a report released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) entitled Framework for Evaluating COVID-19 Responses (OECD, 2022), we explore how response and recovery phases were designed and implemented in Kenya in the early stages of the pandemic. Rather than an evaluation of OECD members' response decisions, the framework categorizes the various options implemented by countries, and we apply this as a guide as we reflect on Kenya’s own policy choices.