developmentpathways.co.uk (January 2026) In this paper, Richard Chirchir and Paul Njoroge Mwangi explore Kenya’s journey from cash to code, showing how digital payments have reshaped social protection programmes. The paper describes how Kenya transitioned from manual cash disbursements to fully digital, mobile money-based social payments. It also explains the key policy, institutional, and technological decisions that enabled this transformation, and highlights practical lessons for policymakers and digital technology experts designing efficient, inclusive, and resilient payment systems for social protection.