Transfer Project Newsletter - June 2012

The Transfer Project - Overview

The Transfer Project is an innovative initiative that will enhance an understanding across Sub-Saharan Africa of the effectiveness of social cash transfer (SCT) programmes in improving the lives of poor and vulnerable children by:

1. Providing evidence on the effectiveness of social cash transfer programmes in achieving impacts for children and, therefore, inform the design of social cash transfer policy and programmes
2. Promoting learning across the continent on social cash transfer implementation as well as research and evaluation.

The project is a joint initiative between UNICEF, FAO, University of North Carolina and Save the Children.

Quick Updates

Transfer Project hosts second annual research workshop "Evaluating the impact of cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa" February, Kenya

We brought together researchers and evaluation specialists from around the world to present results on new impact evaluations of social cash transfer (SCT) programs in Africa, to discuss innovative questionnaire items and research hypotheses, and to identify ways to enhance the link between research results and actionable policy recommendations.

Transfer Project Research Network papers published in March 2012 special issue of Journal of Development Effectiveness

Selected papers from the Transfer Project's first Research Network Conference (Naivasha, Kenya January 2011) have been published in a special issue of the Journal of Development Effectiveness entitled 'Evaluating Social Cash Transfers in sub-Saharan Africa' and as One-Pagers by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth

New evaluations in sub-Saharan Africa awarded 3ie funding

The Transfer Project, under the leadership of our international research partner, University of North Carolina (UNC) and with local partners (University of Malawi and Ruzivo Trust) have been awarded funding by 3ie under the Social Protection Thematic Window that will add rounds and analysis to evaluations in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Other impact evaluations of cash transfer programs in the region received 3ie funding, including the TASAF II program and Gola Forest Programme in Sierra Leone.

New resources available on the website

As well as sharing the findings from impact evaluations, the Transfer Project is committed to improving the quality of impact evaluations by providing resources on the website such as evaluation tools, questionnaires and reports. A number of resources have recently been added to the Transfer Project website including:

• Lesotho Child Grant Programme baseline report;
• Zambia Child Grant and Multiple Categorical Grant evaluation survey tools;
• Zambia Child Grant evaluation baseline report;
• DFID Guidance Note on Social Transfer Evaluations;
• Review article on Cash Transfers and HIV Prevention

In more depth...

Research workshop on "Evaluating the impact of cash transfer programs in sub Saharan Africa", February 5-8, Kenya

Our second annual research network workshop was held at the Aberdares Country Club in Kenya, February 6-8, 2012. We brought together researchers and evaluation specialists from around the world to present results on new impact evaluations of social cash transfer (SCT) programs in Africa, to discuss innovative questionnaire items and research hypotheses, and to identify ways to enhance the link between research results and actionable policy recommendations.

During the workshop we discussed the fact that there are a number of impact evaluations ongoing in Sub-Saharan Africa and these 'second generation' evaluations have tended to be characterised by more comprehensive analysis than the initial rounds. These impact evaluations are contributing to a growing evidence base and it is important to disseminate the findings and to improve the extent to which the results from impact evaluations feed into design and implementation. This requires renewed focus on effective communication of results and that governments are provided with guidance on how to approach the social protection agenda.

Key conclusions from the workshop were the following:

Ensuring an 'informed client' to ensure an appropriate methodology for the impact evaluation

• It is critical to have an 'honest broker', steering committee or and/or peer review process to guide the client in key decisions on methodology
• We need a synthesis of methods or evaluation guide to help governments and other clients in deciding on evaluation methods

Timing and political context are critical

• The research evaluation should be embedded in the programme and should be answering the right questions, at the right time.
• Political context, particularly potential for scale-up, is critical for design of the programme, evaluation and analysis of results

Key components of impact evaluations

• It is important to have an assessment of cost effectiveness, for example there should be questions around cost-effectiveness of more complicated targeting procedures and the potential additional social cost in terms of relations in the community.
• Analysis of productive impacts should be complemented by qualitative research and time-use data to ensure a good understanding of characteristics of the beneficiary and of the type of productive activity

Communicating results

• The findings from the evaluation should be practical, simple and presented in a way that key decision-makers understand

Building the regional evidence base

• Given the growing evidence base, there is considerable potential and need for a major conference on the state of the evidence in mid 2013.

Transfer Project Research Network papers published in March 2012 special issue of Journal of Development Effectiveness

Selected papers from the Transfer Project's first Research Network Conference (Naivasha, Kenya January 2011) have been published in a special issue of the Journal of Development Effectiveness entitled "Evaluating Social Cash Transfers in sub-Saharan Africa." To see the table of contents for the special issue and download the Editors Introduction click here. The International Poverty Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) has published one page summaries of each of the articles in the special issue. Links to the articles and one-pagers are available below.

Evaluating the impact of cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa: an introduction to the special issue - Benjamin Davis, Marie Gaarder, Sudhanshu Handa & Jenn Yablonski

The impact of the Kenya Cash Transfer Program for Orphans and Vulnerable Children on household spending - The Kenya CT-OVC Evaluation Team

The impact of Kenya's Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children on human capital - The Kenya CT-OVC Evaluation Team

From protection to production: productive impacts of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer scheme - Katia Covarrubias, Benjamin Davis & Paul Winters

Targeting effectiveness of social cash transfer programmes in three African countries - Sudhanshu Handa, Carolyn Huang, Nicola Hypher, Clarissa Teixeira, Fabio V. Soares & Benjamin Davis

A simulation impact evaluation of rural income transfers in Malawi and Ghana - Mateusz Filipski & J. Edward Taylor

Conditional versus unconditional cash: a commentary - Marie Gaarder

New evaluations in sub-Saharan Africa awarded 3ie funding

The Transfer Project, under the leadership of our international research partner, University of North Carolina (UNC) and with local partners (University of Malawi and Ruzivo Trust) has been awarded funding by 3ie under the Social Protection Thematic Window that will add data collection and analysis to evaluations in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Economic growth and risk reduction in Malawi's social cash transfer scheme
Researchers: Sudhanshu Handa and Gustavo Angeles, UNC; Peter Mvula, University of Malawi, Malawi.
The Government of Malawi's Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme is the flagship anti-poverty programme under the Social Protection Pillar of the Malawi National Growth and Development Strategy. It serves approximately 28,000 ultra-poor labour-constrained households in seven districts. This research will investigate the role of the SCT in both mitigating the impact of AIDS and reducing the risk of HIV, as well as the economic impact of the SCT on target households and the local community.

The growth and protection impacts of Zimbabwe's Social Cash Transfer Programme
Researchers: Sudhanshu Handa and Gustavo Angeles, UNC; William Kinsey, Ruzivo Trust, Zimbabwe
To address household poverty as a key driver of child vulnerability in Zimbabwe, the National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (NAP II) 2011-2015, includes social cash transfers as a major programme component. The evaluation will assess the impact on HIV risk, child protection, and human capital. In addition, the evaluation will investigate the economic impact of the SCT on both target households and the local community.

The full list of ten projects that received funding from 3IE can be found here.

Protection to Production (PtP)

Transfer Project partner FAO-Rome is implementing a multi-country research program to understand the productive impacts of social transfer programs on households, as well as to understand the local economy (multiplier) effects of these programs. The PtP is currently working in six countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe. For more information please go to their website here.

National Updates

Malawi

• New impact evaluation of the Social Cash Transfer (SCT), financed by KfW, UNICEF, FAO and 3ie will measure the impact of the programme on: children and caretakers; service availability and accessibility of social services, including identifying why people are not receiving services; behavioural change; economic activities; and the maintaining or retaining of children. The evaluation has gone out to tender and the baseline evaluation will take place in the autumn 2012.
• Impact and process evaluation of SCT E-payments system, financed by EC, the programme is being implemented by SC, OIBM and Airtel, impact evaluation implemented by OPM and Centre of Social Research at University of Malawi. The evaluation will look at impacts, process and costs of three delivery mechanisms (bank, mobile phone and manual delivery). Baseline evaluation will take place in September/October 2012.

Zimbabwe

• Impact evaluation of National Action Plan II Social Cash Transfer Programme, financed by the Child Protection Fund, FAO and 3ie, will measure impact on health, education, protection, HIV, nutrition and economic activities, as well as evaluate the targeting mechanism, cost efficiency and programme management. The evaluation will be implemented by the American Institute of Research (AIR), in collaboration with the University of North Carolina. The Inception Workshop took place on June 21-22 and the baseline evaluation will take place in February 2013.

Zambia

• Impact evaluation of Child Grant, funded by a consortium of cooperating partners and led by UNICEF, the evaluation is implemented by AIR with technical input from UNC. The baseline evaluation took place at the end of 2010 and the baseline and targeting reports are now complete and on the transfer project website. The first follow-up survey will take place in October 2012.
• Impact evaluation of Monze Social Cash Transfer Expansion is complete, additional analysis on household level impacts is being undertaken by FAO. Final evaluation report will be available on our website shortly.
• The Multiple Categorical Grant baseline evaluation survey took place in October 2011 and the baseline report has recently been completed.

Ethiopia

• Impact evaluation of the Tigray Social Cash Transfer Pilot programme, financed by UNICEF and evaluated by IFPRI. The inception workshop was held in January and the inception report is complete. The field work for the baseline will take place in June 2012.

Kenya

• Impact evaluation of the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC), implemented by UNC and funded by the U.S. National Institute of health, draft impact evaluation reports and additional analysis from the 2007-2011 phase will be available at the end of June and final reports are due in September. Qualitative fieldwork will take place in July, with OPM leading. A new impact evaluation of the CT-OVC expansion is being led by Health and Development Africa. The inception report is complete.
• Impact evaluation of the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP), financed by DFID and implemented by OPM and IDS - the baseline and first-year follow-up analysis and reporting is complete. The field work for the second-year follow-up is ongoing.

Ghana

• Impact evaluation of Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme (LEAP), financed by DFID, UNICEF and 3IE, and implemented by the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and UNC, field work for the follow-up evaluation is now complete and the field work for the qualitative evaluation, which looked into social networks and economic impacts, is complete. The final quantitative impact report will be available in November 2012.

Lesotho

• Impact evaluation of Child Grant Programme - Led by UNICEF, financed by the EC and FAO and implemented by OPM, the baseline evaluation took place in mid 2011. The baseline and targeting report is complete and on the Transfer Project website; a report on local economy will be completed at the end of July, and the follow-up evaluation will take place in 2013.

South Africa

• Retrospective Evaluation of Child Support Grant - Funded by the Government of South Africa and carried out by a consortium of agencies led by EPRI, with UNICEF support to the qualitative component. The final report is available on the UNICEF South Africa website - look under publications on the Transfer Project website for a summary of the results and links to the reports.

Transfer Project Background

The Transfer Project aims to enhance an understanding across Sub-Saharan Africa of the effectiveness of social cash transfer (SCT) programmes in improving the lives of poor and vulnerable children by:

• Providing evidence on the effectiveness of social cash transfer programmes in achieving impacts for children and, therefore, inform the design of social cash transfer policy and programmes
• Promoting learning across the continent on social cash transfer implementation as well as research and evaluation.

The project is a joint initiative between UNICEF, FAO, University of North Carolina and Save the Children. Three pillars guide the project:

1. Technical Assistance and Impact evaluation - The project provides hands-on support or remote technical assistance to impact evaluations based on a rigorous research design, developed in consultation with national and international experts and policy makers.
2. Regional learning, exchange and networking - This pillar focuses on improving learning to achieve better design and implementation of SCTs. The project will engage with policy makers at national, regional and international level and will ensure that research and policy are interrelated, through research influencing policy and by ensuring that policy questions underpin the research that is undertaken. Regional learning will be promoted through regular meetings, e-communications, networks and exchanges between project partners.
3. Synthesis of regional lessons - To enhance the regional understanding of how SCTs are working in Sub-Saharan Africa, a number of synthesis studies will be undertaken across countries. Comparative studies will include an overview of SCTs in the region and will focus on targeting effectiveness, costing and the economic impacts of SCTs. In addition, a number of thematic studies will examine the impact of cash transfers on aspects such as health, education, intra-household dynamics, gender and HIV/AIDS.

Other resources

Launch of UNICEF Social Protection Strategic Framework

UNICEF has been working on social protection for many years as part of its global mandate to advocate for and expand childrens rights and opportunities. This work includes supporting governments in the development and strengthening of programmes and policies, advocating for child and gender-sensitive social protection, as well supporting the Social Protection Floor Initiative. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that UNICEF announced the launch of its first global Social Protection Strategic Framework. This document presents UNICEF's approach to social protection, makes the case for child-sensitive interventions, promotes the development and strengthening of integrated social protection systems, discusses the importance of a multi-sector approach that maximizes linkages for improving sector outcomes, and discusses current debates including social protection financing, expansion of coverage, and inclusive design. Moreover, the Framework proposes a collaborative policy agenda for social protection including UNICEF's potential role as a platform to engage development partners in leveraging social protection for children.

World Bank Social Protection and Labour Strategy 2012 - 2022

The World Bank have launched their Social Protection and Labour Strategy 2012 - 2022

Save the Children's new report 'A Chance to Grow'

This report highlights the huge potential that social protection has to tackle malnutrition - a hidden killer that contributes to a third of child deaths - and boost economic opportunities for the most vulnerable people. Against the backdrop of ongoing economic crisis and food prices on the rise, the report sets out how programmes to distribute cash, food or assets - sometimes in exchange for participation in employment or other activities - have a huge role to play in protecting the poorest families particularly during tough times and economic shocks. Crucially they can also help families vulnerable to malnutrition to access a nutritious and diverse diet for their children, and increase their ability to cope with crises.