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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Kinya Kaibung’a

Kinya Kaibung’a is a Research Officer with the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has a keen interest in leveraging machine learning, AI, and other cutting-edge technologies to boost climate resilience and food security in smart agriculture systems.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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experts

Development Strategies and Governance

Josphat Korir

Research Officer

Bio

Josphat Kiplangat Korir is a Research Officer, Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He leads and contributes to rigorous research design, mixed-methods impact evaluations, and policy-relevant analyses to inform strategies for resilience, inclusive growth, and rural transformation. Josphat has more than a decade of experience designing and managing large-scale research and evaluation projects across agriculture, climate resilience, education, and economic development, with prior roles at CIFOR-ICRAF and the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics. He holds an MSc in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a BSc in Agribusiness Management from the University of Nairobi.

Languages: English and Kiswahili

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Publications

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Working Paper

Can digital financial services improve household coping capacity? Evidence from nationally representative cross-sectional data in Kenya

2026Kirui, Oliver K.; Vyas, Shalika; Korir, Josphat K.; Mundia, Carolyne; Kimathi, Sally; Misganaw, Mastawesha E.
Details

Can digital financial services improve household coping capacity? Evidence from nationally representative cross-sectional data in Kenya

Digital financial services (DFS) have expanded financial access in Kenya, but their contribution to household coping capacity may differ substantially across product types. This paper examines trends and socioeconomic correlates of DFS adoption and the associations between DFS use and household coping capacity using nationally representative FinAccess surveys from 2019, 2021, and 2024. The analysis combines descriptive statistics and pooled logistic regressions with inverse-probability-weighted-regression adjustment and propensity score matching. We distinguish between mobile banking savings, mobile money savings, mobile banking loans, mobile provider loans, and app-based digital credit. Mobile phone ownership, internet access, education, income, and financial decision-making are important correlates of adoption, though significant gender and regional disparities remain. Digital savings show the broadest and most consistent positive associations with household coping capacity. Mobile banking savings are associated with an increase of 14 percentage points in emergency saving, an increase of 7.5 percentage points in access to emergency funds, and reductions of 4 and 2.7 percentage points in food insecurity and difficulty accessing medical care, respectively. Mobile banking loans provide narrower benefits, mainly for financial planning and emergency liquidity. In contrast, app-based loans are associated with reduced emergency savings and financial endurance. The findings show that the welfare implications of DFS depend critically on product type. Savings-led digital finance can strengthen household preparedness, while short-term app-based credit may increase financial vulnerability.

Year published

2026

Authors

Kirui, Oliver K.; Vyas, Shalika; Korir, Josphat K.; Mundia, Carolyne; Kimathi, Sally; Misganaw, Mastawesha E.

Citation

Kirui, Oliver K.; Vyas, Shalika; Korir, Josphat K.; Mundia, Carolyne; Kimathi, Sally; and Misganaw, Mastawesha E. 2026. Can digital financial services improve household coping capacity? Evidence from nationally representative cross-sectional data in Kenya. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2432. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/184632

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Digital Innovation; Financial Inclusion; Financial Services; Financial Technology; Coping Capacity

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Working Paper

The landscape of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa: Are youth driving structural transformation?

2025Abay, Kibrom A.; Wondale, Meseret; Korir, Josphat K.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Araya, Mesele; Breisinger, Clemens
Details

The landscape of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa: Are youth driving structural transformation?

This paper assesses the landscape and evolution of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa, focusing on three important countries—Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria—which together account for 40 percent of Africa’s youth population. We also examine whether Africa’s youth are driving structural transformation. To do so, we combine nationally representative data and surveys spanning more than two decades (from the 1990s to the 2020s). We situate the analysis within the region’s pressing youth unemployment challenge, where annual labor-force entrants surpass job creation. Our findings show that, despite substantial heterogeneities across countries, largely due to sectoral composition of economies, youth remain engaged in agriculture almost as much as adults. While labor continues to gradually shift out of agriculture, it has moved overwhelmingly into services rather than industry, reinforcing the unique pattern of structural transformation in Africa. More importantly, exit rates from agriculture are similar for youth and adults, except in Ethiopia, where youth are leaving agriculture at slightly higher rates than adults. In Ethiopia and Kenya, the entry rate into services is higher among young women, while entry into industry is higher among young men, suggesting distributional and equity implications of Africa’s ongoing structural transformation. These findings offer important insights and challenge simplistic views that youth are leaving agriculture in “droves” as well as the sometimes-embroidered perceptions of their role in that transformation. We discuss the implications of these findings for sustaining inclusive employment opportunities and argue that agriculture should remain central to job creation efforts in Africa.

Year published

2025

Authors

Abay, Kibrom A.; Wondale, Meseret; Korir, Josphat K.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Araya, Mesele; Breisinger, Clemens

Citation

Abay, Kibrom A.; Wondale, Meseret; Korir, Josphat K.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Araya, Mesele; and Breisinger, Clemens. 2025. The landscape of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa: Are youth driving structural transformation? IFPRI Discussion Paper 2382. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178454

Keywords

Africa; Youth; Labour Market; Structural Adjustment; Youth Employment; Agrifood Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Events

IFPRI @ 9th KIPPRA Annual Regional Conference
IFPRI at External Event

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May 20 to 22, 2026

IFPRI @ 9th KIPPRA Annual Regional Conference

IFPRI is pleased to participate in the 9th edition of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) Annual Regional Conference, taking place May 20–22, 2026 in Mombasa, Kenya. The 2026 conference theme is Strengthening Value Chains for Inclusive Growth in Kenya. The KIPPRA Annual Regional Conference is Kenya’s foremost platform for evidence-based […]