This study explores the effectiveness of conventional social policy instruments as safety nets in the face of the growing threat of climate change in developing countries. We evaluate the Hunger Safety Net Program (HSNP), a cash transfer implemented by the Kenyan government between 2009 and 2012, on its effect against poverty incidence and gap, as well as on social mobility, restricting the sample to households that suffered from the 2008 drought (N=1563). With propensity score matching, we estimate the average effect of the policy (ATET) to mitigate the impacts generated by the disaster. The paper does not find evidence that the program alleviated drought impacts in the short term and points to the need to explore alternative policy designs that take into account local communities' coping strategies, economic structure, and informal support networks.