Kenya is most generous country in Africa, says report

Hon Esther Passaris donating sanitary pads to assist street families in Kamukunji. Kenya has been ranked 8th most generous country in the world. [Courtesy]

Forget their fights on social media, but Kenyans are the most generous people in Africa, at least according to a UK based organisation.

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) World Giving Index has placed Kenya 8^th position worldwide on matters generosity.

The CAF World Giving Index 2018 is derived from data collected throughout 2017 from 146 countries.

Then the Index Score is calculated as combined average of the proportion of people who reported one or more of the following in the month prior to the interview: helping a stranger, donating money and volunteering time.

Using the above criteria Kenya scored 72 percent for helping a stranger, 46 percent for donating money and 45 percent for volunteering time.

A lobby donates food to Upendo Children's Home, Murang'a [Courtesy]

The World Giving Index ranking indicates that Kenya is the only African country among the top 10 ranked at 54 percent. Nigeria comes second in Africa at 48 percent followed by Liberia at 47 percent.

The ranking puts Kenya in such an interesting position considering how radical Kenyans are especially on twitter in getting into each other's neck, that may disapprove this generous nature of being good to strangers.

However, the country has witnessed several outstanding cases like that of Daniel Mwaura who in April 2018 returned Sh30,000 left by a passenger in a matatu he worked as a conductor, plying the Gachie –Nairobi route.

Kenya was ranked 3^rd by the CAF World Giving Index in 2017 and has therefore dropped in this year's report.

This ninth edition of the CAF World Giving Index presents giving data from across the globe over a five year period (2013-2017).

The report found that people in developed countries are most likely to donate money while those in developing countries are most likely to help strangers. There are similar participation levels in volunteering time across both developed and developing countries and is less common in transitional countries.  

Dagoretti Children's Home in Kenya [Courtesy]

Nigeria returned to top 20 in this year's ranking from the 2017 ranking where it was ranked at number 28. Ranked at number 16, Nigeria scored 71 percent for helping strangers, 36 percent for donating money and 37 percent for volunteering time.

Liberia scored the highest at helping strangers at 80 percent while it scored 14 percent for donating money. For volunteering time Liberia scored 47 percent.

According to CAF, there is a decline in people reported to have donated to a charity but an increase in people reported to have helped a stranger and volunteered their time. There is a growth in levels of giving across Africa as more people helped others and volunteered their time.

However, there is a global fall in the numbers of people that donate money.

At global levels, the 2018 CAF World Giving Index showed that Men are more likely to donate money to charities than women. People aged above 50 years are more likely to donate money than those between ages 30-49.

The most likely age group globally to have helped a stranger are those aged 30-49 years, followed closely by the youngest age group, 15-29 year olds. Men are more likely to help strangers than women

Volunteering time is more driven by men than women while those under the age of 50 years volunteer more than those aged above 50 years.

CAF World Giving Index gives a unique insight into trends in generosity across the globe. It shows how people have a desire of helping each other and their aim of building a better society.