The endline data collection for the evaluation of Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Programme (HSCT) took place in July and August of 2017. The study, led by Ashu Handa and Gustavo Angeles, takes a look at four-year impacts of HSCT on consumption, food security, labor and productive activities, health, and education. Stay tuned for results.  

Qualitative data collection examining the effects of Tanzania’s PSSN on child labor is currently ongoing. The qualitative data collection comprises a Photovoice exercise in which youth are asked to photograph their daily productive activities and to discuss the photos they made during focus group discussions. The qualitative data collection is a collaborative effort between Transfer Project Researchers Jacobus de Hoop and Valeria Groppo and two external researchers Margaret Gichane (University of North Carolina) and Stephanie Zuilkowski (Florida State University).

Lusajo Kajula (PhD candidate in Health Behaviour and Promotion at University of Maastricht, Netherlands) started her consultancy with the UNICEF Innocenti in June 2017. Her research interests lie in risky sexual behaviour among adolescents and youth, intimate partner violence, violence against children, HIV related stigma, as well as parenting and family interactions. Since 2002, Lusajo has been involved in a number of international collaborations that addressed adolescent and youth sexual behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa, including being site PI for an intervention trial on HIV-related sexual behaviors and concurrent sexual partnerships in Tanzania.

Lusajo is based in Dar es Salaam and is currently the Study Coordinator for the research and impact evaluation related to the Tanzania Cash Plus for Adolescents Initiative within the context of Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN).

Myth-busting? How research is refuting common perceptions about unconditional cash transfers. Peterman, Yablonski & Daidone, Innocenti Research Brief 2017-18

The transformative impacts of unconditional cash transfers: Evidence from two government programs in Zambia Natali, Innocenti Research Brief 2017-20

Conferences & Presentations

Several Transfer Project researchers were invited to present their work at the UNU-WIDER Conference on Public Economics for Development held in Maputo, Mozambique on July 5-6th. Kelly Killburn from UNC presented on the short-term impacts of an unconditional cash transfer program on child schooling: experimental evidence from Malawi. Noemi Pace from FAO presented a paper entitled: Making the right livelihood choice: how do cash transfers help?   Ervin Prifti from FAO discussed his paper on risk-related effects of cash transfers on modern inputs demand. Silvio Daidone from FAO presented two studies: A dose-response function approach for labour supply and cash transfers: the case of Zambia and Does ‘soft conditionality’ increase the impact of cash transfers on desired outcomes? Evidence from a randomized control trial in Lesotho. Finally, Richard de Groot gave an overview of transfer project research in sub-Saharan Africa and highlights from ‘From Evidence to Action’. All papers and presentations are available here.

UNICEF Innocenti and FAO researchers attended APPAM International held in Brussels, July 13-14th and organized a roundtable on Transfer Project work titled the “Diverse impacts of cash transfers across Sub-Saharan Africa.” Alejandro Grinspun presented on the productive impacts of six Transfer Project cash transfers in SSA, Luisa Natali presented findings from the paper ‘Can unconditional cash transfers lead to sustainable poverty reduction? Evidence from two government-led programmes in Zambia’, Noemi Pace presented the paper ‘One plus one can be greater than two: evaluating synergies of development programmes in Malawi’ and Amber Peterman presented on preliminary findings on the impacts of the Malawi cash transfer on youth mental health (transitions to adulthood and youth well-being).

Amber Peterman attended the Sexual Violence Research Initiative bi-annual Forum on September 18-20th and presented a review of cash transfers and intimate partner violence conducted joint with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Tia Palermo and Ashu Handa attended the ESARO Social Policy Network Meeting in Johannesburg September 5-7th. Tia presented a summary of Transfer Project work being conducted at Innocenti and the ways in which country offices could engage with the Office of Research. Ashu presented some reflections on a Key Note address on Social Protection by Rachel Sabates-Wheeler (former Chief of Social Policy, UNICEF Rwanda), and contributed to sessions on Evidence to Advocacy, the Demographic Dividend and engagement with the IMF.

Transfer Project researchers, including UNICEF Innocenti and FAO representatives attended and were part of the organizing group for the International Conference on Social Protection in contexts of Fragility & Forced Displacement, held in Brussels, 28-29 September. Representatives of governments, international organizations and bilateral institutions from 30 countries affirmed the commitments to “leave no one behind” and to “work towards bridging the gap between humanitarian aid and development programming” through social protection. Natalia Winder-Rossi of FAO was part of a panel discussing ‘Social Protection in Fragile Contexts: Lessons Learned and Moving Forward,’ and Amber Peterman of Innocenti presented on ‘Impact Evaluation in an Urban Setting: Cash, food and vouchers among Colombian refugees in Northern Ecuador.’ All presentations and video recordings will be available via the conference website, and a press release can be found here. Follow #SPConf17 for future updates.