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Cash transfers: what does the evidence say? A rigorous review of programme impact and of the role of design and implementation features

Author: F Bastagli, J Hagen-Zanker, L Harman, V Barca, G Sturge, T Schmidt and L Pellerano | Published: 2016 | Type: Report/article

Themes: Social protection

Topics: Food security, Poverty reduction, Empowerment

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Policy highlights:

Cash transfers are increasingly being adopted by low- and middle-income countries as a central element of their poverty reduction and social protection strategy.
Research shows that the impact of cash transfers is greater if an element of conditionality (in terms of health and education service use) is included.
To ensure the positive impact of cash transfers, policymakers are advised to: 1) increase the amount and time-span of cash transfers; 2) monitor and enforce conditionality; 3) adjust transfers so that they occur at critical moments in people’s lives (e.g. transfer schedules should be tied to the school-year decision cycle to ensure a positive impact on enrolment); 4) integrate health-services and nutrition into cash transfer programmes; 5) make transfers reliable to increase people’s creditworthiness and, hence, their market-opportunities; and 6) supplement cash transfers with training on gender roles, female decision-making and contraception to reduce gender inequality and empower women