The governments of Kenya and Senegal reacted quickly to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus. They applied different lockdown policies and different social relief measures to assist vulnerable households in withstanding the health crisis. Based on empirical data of the research project “Informal Employment, Social Security and Political Trust in sub-Saharan Africa”, which was jointly conducted by ILO, IDOS and FES, the report discusses the impact of different policy approaches on poverty and inequality in the two countries’ informal economies.