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Qualitative research and analyses of the economic impacts of cash transfer programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Synthesis Report

Year of publication 2015

Pages 90 p.

Author Agricultural Development Economics Division

Product type Document

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This report synthesizes the analysis and findings of a set of six country case studies that explore the impact of cash transfer programmes on household economic decision-making and the local economy in sub-Saharan Africa. The six countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The research is being carried out under the auspices of the “From Protection to Production” (PtoP) project, a four-year collaboration between the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United King dom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The PtoP is part of a larger effort, the Transfer Project – jointly implemented by UNICEF, Save the Children and the University of North Carolina – that supports the implementation of cash transfer evaluations in sub-Saharan Africa. The research is intended as a complement to other studies of cash transfer programmes that focus more on social indicators such as health and e ducation outcomes. It therefore covers themes such as the extent to which cash transfers can help households to manage risk, overcome credit constraints, make productive investments and improve their access to markets, as well as their effect in stimulating local economies. It also refers to analysis from other studies, in particular those conducted under the PtoP project, in order to strengthen the integration of data. The six country case studies were carried out by Oxford Policy Management ( OPM), a development consultancy in the United Kingdom, in partnership with local research organizations and researchers. Each study had an individual lead researcher from OPM; the overall project managers for the six-country study were Simon Brook and Valentina Barca of OPM. The technical Team Leader was Jeremy Holland, an OPM Associate. Pamela Pozarny of FAO provided technical oversight and contributed to the field research in all six countries, and to this final synthesis report.

Language English

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    This report synthesizes the analysis and findings of a set of seven country impact evaluation studies that explore the impact of cash transfer programmes on household economic decision-making, productive activities and labour allocation in sub-Saharan Africa. The seven countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Results from seven recently completed rigorous impact evaluations of government-run unconditional social cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa s how that these programmes have significant positive impacts on the livelihoods of beneficiary households. In Zambia, the Child Grant programme had large and positive impacts across an array of income generating activities. The impact of the programmes in Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe were more selective in nature, while the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme in Ghana had fewer direct impacts on productive activities, and more on various dimensions of risk management .
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