Migration Household Survey 2009

The study used the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) National Sample Survey and Evaluation Programme (NASSEP IV) sampling frame which has 69 districts as stratum comprising both urban and rural areas. The sample design for the study was multi-stage with the first stage covering the primary sampling units (PSUs) which was a sample of clusters developed during the 1999 census. The second stage was selection of households within the clusters. A re-listing of all households in sampled clusters was carried out to up-date the 1999 and also to be able to classify households into the three strata of interest in this study: international migrant households, internal migrant households, and non-migrant households. At the household level, interviews were held with the household head/spouse or other responsible adult with the requisite information about the household.
The study uses a purposive survey methodology that first selected districts with the largest concentration of international migrants, and then selected clusters also with the highest concentration of international migrants. This was done based on the information of previous household surveys and the knowledge of the administrative officers, statistical officers and cluster guides.

Sampling Frame
At the time of the study, the available National Census was conducted in 1999. This census did not contain questions on remittances but had questions on migration. The migration question asked then was where family members were living in the last one year. This means that the census captured either those who had come back or those who had come visiting and were to return to where they migrated to. It did not distinguish clearly the migration component. Further, the census was conducted 10 years ago which meant it does not provide the current status on aspects of migration. The Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS) 2005/06 and the Financial Services Deepening survey (FSD) are two surveys that have recently been conducted with an element of migration and remittances. However, the information is not adequate for the current survey. For example, the KIHBS has a question that captures issues of remittance linking them to the transfers received from abroad. Although it has about 13,000 households, only about 125 households indicated they had received such transfers. This was a very small sample compared to what was envisaged by the current study. The Financial Services Deepening survey (FSD) (2006/07) also has a question on cash transfers from abroad but all this is related to issues of access to financial services and not to issues sought in the current study. Thus, it could not be used for the current study. The KIHBS and FSD surveys was based on the KNBS NASSEP IV and although one may have thought of revisiting the households that were covered for additional information, it is against the KNBS regulations to conduct such follow-ups and the households identities are not provided.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics household survey sampling frame, the National Sample Survey and Evaluation Programme (NASSEP IV), is based on the 1999 population and housing census. The objective of NASSEP IV frame was to construct a national master sampling frame of clusters of households in both rural and urban areas in Kenya using a sound sampling design. This sampling frame has a total of 1,800 clusters of which 1,260 are rural and 540 are urban as indicated in Appendix Table 1. Each cluster holds about 80 to 100 households. The framework is based on the old administrative units comprising of 69 districts in 8 Provinces. Currently, the districts have been subdivided and increased to 265 but this does not distort our sampling frame based on NASSEP IV as the new districts are curved out of the old districts.

The Sample
This study utilized the NASSEP IV frame to select 102 clusters (5.6% of the total clusters) in 19 districts which yielded a total sample of 2,448 households assuming an average of 24 households in each cluster. The districts were selected first, then the clusters in each district and finally the households in each cluster. Households in each cluster were re-listed (updated) and grouped into three strata--international migrant, internal migrant and non-migrant households. In the selection of clusters in each district, at least one of the targeted five clusters was urban with exception of Nairobi and Mombasa which are purely urban.
The study however ended up covering 92 clusters (5.1% of the total clusters in NASSEP IV) from 17 districts. Two targeted districts-Kajiado and Baringo- were not covered due to logistical problems. First of all, the team was expected to finalize the field by 15th December so that the analysis could begin and be on time. When the fieldwork was winding up on 22nd December, the two districts were yet to be covered. Two, the two districts have more transport challenges and the team was therefore expected to use KNBS transport facilities and more research assistants to capture the households which are more widely spread on the ground. This required adequate funding and by the time the fieldwork was winding up no funds had been received from World Bank. Third, even when the funds were received in January, the team considered that the study would be capturing households in a different consumption cycle, having just gone through the festive season. Given all these factors, this saw a total of 2,123 household covered out of 2, 208 (96% of the total targeted). Of these, some households were later dropped due to a lot of missing data especially due to non response, and at the end a total of 1,942 households were cleaned up for analysis. This including 953 are urban and 989 rural drawn from 51 rural and 40 urban clusters.
Selection of Districts
There was a particular interest in investigating households that had international migrants and which may have received transfers from abroad. A random sample of the population would not produce adequate number of households that had received transfers or had international migration, as we learnt from the KIHBS data set. As indicated earlier, out of 13,000 households surveyed under KIHBS only 125 households receiving remittances from abroad. With this experience and information, this study selected the top nineteen districts from KIHBS (2005/07) that showed households with migration characteristics. The key factor used was that the households indicated they received cash transfers from abroad. Districts with more than one household fulfilling this criterion of having received transfers from abroad were considered. In addition, Financial Services Deepening survey (FSD) survey results were used to confirm that the selected districts had reported having received money from abroad. In addition, since this is a relatively rare phenomenon in Kenya, the selection of districts is designed such that households with the relevant characteristics have a high probability of being selected. As such those districts with a presence of cash transfers mechanisms such as M-PESA, Western Union, or Money Gram services were considered. All these information was used to update the information from KIHBS.

Selection of Clusters
In each district, 5 clusters were selected of which at least one cluster was an urban cluster as defined by KNBS, except for Nairobi and Mombasa which are purely urban. Some other district had more than one urban cluster selected based on their number of clusters and accessibility to rural clusters for example Garissa. The study covered 10 clusters in Nairobi and 6 in Mombasa with an attempt made to capture this across various income group levels.
In selection of the clusters, the supervisors sat down with the KNBS statistics officers, cluster guides, village elders, administrative officers (Chiefs and sub-chiefs) to map out clusters where the probability of getting an international migrant was high. Of this probabilities were very subjective as it was based on how well these people understood the composition of the households in the areas they represent. This helped to identify the five clusters targeted for study.

Selection of Households
The selection process involved re-listing of the households in each cluster so as to update the list of occupied households and identify the three groups of households. Each group or stratum was treated as an independent sub-frame and random sampling was used to select households in each group. The listing exercise was facilitated by the respective District Statistical Officer (DSO). An instrument was developed to capture the basic characteristics of households in terms of household headship, number of members, and whether contain international or internal migrants and number.
A total of 24 households per cluster were targeted for selection for interview making a minimum of 120 households in each district except Mombasa and Nairobi. Experience on the ground was different and this saw variations on the household selected in the sample. The factors considered included availability of international migrants and a rule that in each cluster a maximum of 10 non-migrant households were surveyed (the expected rule was 10 non-migrants, 7 local migrants and 7 international migrant). However due to the rarity of international migrants, in the sampling process, international migrants were given a priority so that in each cluster almost all were included in the sample.
In the re-listing exercise, households were assigned identification numbers. When the number of households listed in a stratum exceeds the number to be sampled, households in that stratum were selected randomly. However, the procedure results in unequal selection probabilities of households in the three strata, which needs to be kept track of through the supervisor sampling sheets.
For the identification of the respondent household and clusters, the NASSEP IV sampling frame had adequately documented facilitating identification of selected clusters and households on the ground. Each cluster had a map and a listing of the households within it. The maps indicate the location of the structures and the households. This enabled the interviewers reach the selected household.