Cecilia Mbaka is currently the Head of the National Social Protection Secretariat in the State Department of Social Protection whose mandate is to advice government on social protection issues and to coordinate social protection programmes with a view of enhancing synergy in delivery of Social Protection. She has also previously served in senior Government positions including as Head of the Division of Social Welfare and Older Persons within the same State Department and as pioneer director of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities
Ms Mbaka is a distinguished development worker and a strategic management professional with over 25 years’ experience working with the Government of Kenya. A central element of her work has been effective engagement of key sectors of Government, development partners, civil society and research stakeholders to advance policy development and the design and execution of innovative programs that have strengthened service delivery to the poor and vulnerable persons.
Besides her policy work, Ms Mbaka has steered the design and execution of Kenya’s cash transfer for older persons programme, which commenced in 2009 with an initital 300 beneficiaries and has since expanded exponentially to cover approximately 850, 000 older persons at present with the introduction of the universal cash transfer programme for older persons which she was very instrumental in its design and roll out in March, 2018. She successfully initiated activities to advocated for it. She has also been actively engaged in international meetings where she has presented papers on Social Protection. She is passionate about Universal Social Protection and social protection for workers in the informal sector.