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Transfer Project Newsletter – Autumn 2010

What is the Transfer Project?

The Transfer Project aims to enhance an understanding across Sub-Saharan Africa of the effectiveness of social cash transfer programmes (SCTs) in improving the lives of poor and vulnerable children. This is a joint project between UNICEF, the University of North Carolina and Save the Children UK with three principal objectives;

  1. To provide evidence on the effectiveness of social cash transfer programmes in achieving impacts for children
  2. To inform the development and design of social cash transfer policy and programmes
  3. To promote learning across the continent on social cash transfer implementation and research and evaluation.

The project has been informed by a nine-month design phase of country visits, expert consultations and a design workshop, to engage with a wide range of stakeholders in each country and in the region. Three pillars guide the project:

1) Regional learning, exchange and networking

This pillar aims to improve learning to lead to better design and implementation of social cash transfers, through engaging with policy makers and processes at national, regional and international level. This approach will ensure research and policy are interrelated, not only through research influencing policy but by ensuring that policy questions underpin the research focus. Regional learning will be promoted through regular meetings, e-communications, and exchanges between project partners. A network of social cash transfer implementers and policy-makers is being set up to promote lesson sharing.

2) Technical Assistance and Impact evaluation

Based on a rigorous research design developed through consultation with national and international experts and policy makers, the project provides hands-on support or remote technical assistance in nine countries, to impact evaluations comprised of both quantitative and qualitative research.

3) Synthesis of regional lessons

To enhance the regional understanding of how social cash transfers are working in Sub-Saharan Africa, a number of synthesis studies will be undertaken across countries. Firstly, three comparative studies on programme design look at 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.

Update on Activities

1) Regional learning, exchange of practice and the network of implementers

The Transfer Project recently organized a workshop entitled ‘Sharing Experiences: The Social Cash Transfers Implementers Workshop’ from 21st to 24th September in Maseru, Lesotho. The Workshop gathered together Programme Implementers from 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and UNICEF staff from the region. The focus was on key operational aspects of cash transfers, including targeting, Management Information Systems, benefit levels and linkages with complementary services and HIV/AIDS. Out of this meeting, a community of practice (or network) of cash transfer implementers, a website and a listserv for information sharing are being established

The website and listserv to improve learning and policy exchange on cash transfers can be found at www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/transfer. The website has details on how to join the community of practice. All professionals who are engaged in the implementation of SCTs in Africa are encourage to join the community if practice and share questions, challenges and experiences.

2) Technical Assistance and Impact evaluation - Impact evaluations have begun in a number of countries:

Ghana – Funded by DFID and UNICEF and implemented by the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This evaluation focuses on the LEAP expansion, and is based on a national survey implemented by Yale University and ISSER which is designed to include 700 future LEAP participants (a good example of building on existing data collection processes!). A comparison group drawn from wider survey will be selected using propensity score matching. The field-work was undertaken in January-April 2010 and the data is currently being cleaned and inputted. The baseline report, produced jointly by the ISSER UNC will be published in February 2011. The follow-up of both the comparison and treatment groups) is planned for April/May 2012.

Kenya – A follow-up round of data collection on the original CT-OVC evaluations ample is currently scheduled from May-June 2011. This follow-up is funded by a grant from the U.S. National Institute of Health and will be implemented by UNC in collaboration with the Government of Kenya and Research Solutions Africa. The follow-up survey will be made up of a core set of questions from the baseline (2007) and first follow-up rounds (2009) and several exciting new modules, including HIV risk, subjective expectations, peer perceptions and time preference.

Lesotho – An evaluation is currently being designed for the new Child Grant Program which will be expanded in 2011. The evaluation is funded by the European Commission and implemented by Oxford Policy Management (OPM), and will comprise a randomized cluster longitudinal design with an initial qualitative component to inform the design of the expansion as well as the quantitative analysis. Baseline data collection is expected in early 2011 with a follow-up one or two years later.

Malawi – Building on the initial assessment of the Mchinji Pilot, a large scale multi-site evaluation is being planned for 2011-2013. Funding will be provided by KFW and UNICEF and fundraising from other development partners in Malawi is ongoing. The design will exploit the expansion of the program in 2 of the five existing districts where the program has not yet been scaled up. Prospective beneficiaries will be randomized out to receive benefits in stage two of the expansion and will serve as the control group. Baseline data collection of approximately 2000 households is expected in October 2011 and follow-up 1-2 years later depending on funding and program constraints. The evaluation will be implemented by UNC in collaboration with the Center for Social Research at the University of Malawi.

Mozambique – Funded by UNICEF and implemented by the International Poverty Center (Brazil), the one year follow-up survey has been completed and initial results shared with government and cooperating partners. The final report is expected to be released by the end of 2010 and data will be made public shortly afterwards.

South Africa – Funded by the Government of South Africa and carried out by a consortium of agencies led by EPRI, the impact evaluation of the Child Support Grant (CSG) is now underway. The evaluation design is retrospective, and will use a dosage model for children enrolled early in life and those enrolled later; one component will also exploit the staggered expansion of the CSG for older kids and use a regression discontinuity design to compare the effects of the CSG on those just above and below the age cut-off dates. UNICEF is also supporting a qualitative component to the evaluation.

Zambia – Funded by a consortium of cooperating partners and led by UNICEF, the evaluation is implemented by American Institute for Research (AIR) with technical input from UNC. There are three evaluations planned; firstly, an evaluation of a new universal child grant targeting pre-school children and to be implemented in three of Zambia’s poorest districts in early 2011 (Kalabo, Shangombo and Kaputa). The baseline evaluation of 2500 households is currently underway with a follow-up two years later. Secondly, there will be an evaluation of the long-standing Social Cash Transfer Scheme, which is being expanded to two further districts in 2011. Thirdly, a baseline survey was carried out of the Social Cash Transfer Scheme in Monze district in 2007. A follow-up survey was completed in 2010 by AIR and results of this evaluation will be available in April 2011.

Discussions around impact evaluations in Ethiopia and Rwanda are currently ongoing.

3) Synthesis reports

Targeting effectiveness of Social Cash Transfer Programs in Three Africa Countries - Ashu Handa, Carolyn Huang, Nicola Hypher, Clarissa Texeira, Fabio Veras and Ben Davis

This study aims to work out if current targeting measures really are getting benefits to the poor. It combines descriptive analysis of the targeting process with quantitative analysis on the effectiveness of community based targeting in each of the three countries. The paper compares the characteristics of beneficiary households taken from program baseline evaluation surveys with characteristics of poor households based on national household surveys. It also assesses the effectiveness of the targeting of each program in light of the program’s objectives and desired beneficiary populations, and explores policy implications for the different targeting approaches. The paper was presented at the Chronic Poverty Research Centre Conference and Cash Transfer Implementers Workshop, both in September 2010, and at the AfDB Annual Research Conference in Tunis in October. A working paper version of this paper is available on the Transfer Project website.

Economic Impacts – Benedicte de la Bière, Ana Paula de la O Campos, Ben Davis, Katia Covarrubias.

The research seeks to assess the potential economic impacts of cash transfers on the rural poor and to explore how such social protection interventions can contribute to sustainable poverty reduction and economic growth. A literature review has been completed and was presented at the Cash Implementers Conference in September 2010; a draft of the paper will be ready in January 2011.

Transfer Project
Carolina Population Center
Save the Children UK
UNICEF
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/transfer
Transfer Project Save the Children UNICEF