Lesotho
The Lesotho Child Grants Programme provides an unconditional cash transfer to poor and vulnerable households. The primary objective of the CGP according to the operational manual is to improve the living standards of Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) so as to improve nutrition and health status and increase school enrolment among OVCs. The CGP is targeted at poor households with children, including child headed households—there is no other special definition of “vulnerable” children. As of February, 2012 the program reaches 9915 households (covering 28,000 children), with a planned scale up of 5000 additional families each year, reaching 25,000 in 2014.
The core of the quantitative analysis for the Lesotho study is an experimental design impact evaluation. Participation in the program was randomized at the level of the electoral district (ED) in the following fashion. First, all 96 EDs in four community councils were paired based on a range of characteristics, resulting in 48 pairs. Once these pairs were constructed, 40 pairs were randomly selected to be included in the evaluation survey. Within each selected ED, 2 villages (or clusters of villages) were selected, and in every cluster a random sample of 20 households (10 potentially called to enrolment and 10 potentially non-called to enrolment) were randomly selected from the lists prepared during the targeting exercise. After the baseline survey data were collected in all evaluation EDs, public meetings were organized where a lottery was held to assign each ED in each of the pairs (both sampled and non-sampled) to either treatment or control groups. Selecting the treatment electoral districts after carrying out the baseline survey helped to avoid anticipation effects (Pellerano, 2011).
The baseline household survey was carried out (fieldwork finished as of August 30, 2011) prior to the distribution of the first transfers to treatment households; a follow up panel survey will take place two years later in 2013. A total of 3102 households were surveyed; 1531 program eligible households (766 treatment and 765 control) to be used for the impact evaluation analysis, with the remaining 1571 program non eligible households to be used for targeting analysis and spillover effects. Besides the household survey, two other questionnaires were implemented: the community and business enterprise questionnaires. The baseline survey included detailed modules on economic activities (including labour, crop and livestock production, and non agricultural enterprises), social networks, risk and time preferences and climate change adaptation.
