Thumbnail Image

The Impact of Cash Transfers on the Economic Advancement, Decision-Making and Capacity of Women

Year of publication 2015

Pages 4p.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Cash transfers (CTs) are important poverty reduction schemes, which are present in more than fifty countries (World Bank, 2014a). Their main goal is economic growth rather than the economic empowerment of their beneficiaries – who are usually ultra-poor people; however, evidence of their development impacts is contributing to a shift in how policy-makers perceive these programmes. In many countries, the majority of CT beneficiaries are poor and vulnerable women. As a result, it is often claime d that CTs have an empowering effect on women based on the assumption that, as the main recipients of the transfers, women gain greater control over financial resources. Nevertheless, available evidence on empowerment outcomes is far from being conclusive, particularly as to whether CTs actually improve women’s bargaining power and decision-making in the household.

Language English

Also available in:

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    Do productive safety nets increase women’s agency and decision-making power within the household? Evidence from Ethiopia
    Report on Increased Agency and Decision-making by Women in the context of the Integrated Basic Social Services with Social Cash Transfer (IN-SCT) Pilot Programme
    2021
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Empowerment of women is considered to be a critical step towards poverty reduction. In addition, empowering women is part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically SDG5). Social protection programs such as cash transfers or public works are policy instruments that help rural food insecure households to cope and gradually transition out of poverty. They also have the potential to empower women through several pathways. In this report, we analyze women’s agency and decision-making power, which are a specific sub-domain of women’s empowerment, in the context of the Integrated Nutrition Social Cash Transfer (IN-SCT) pilot in Ethiopia. This paper is being published in the context of a partnership between FAO, IFAD and the Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES) and its Centro de Estudios en Desarrollo Económico (CEDE) based in Bogotá, Colombia.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Document
    Qualitative research and analyses of the economic impacts of cash transfer programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa
    Synthesis Report
    2015
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Project
    Strengthened Evidence-Based Decision-Making and Monitoring of Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals through Improved National Capacities - TCP/RAS/3709 2023
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The project has helped to improve partnerships between national statistics offices, ministries of agriculture, and other stakeholders with expertise in the relevant new technologies, including GIS experts and departments in other ministries, academic institutions, and international and regional organizations. The project has complemented other projects and programmes involved in building capacity regarding the SDG indicators through the use of the cost-effective methods introduced. Integrating Big Data with traditional survey and census data has also enabled users to analyse and monitor, inter alia, the impact of natural disasters on different types of farmers and the effects of climate change on female-headed agriculture households.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.