Cash transfers empower the beneficiary households to increase their consumption to a level which exceeds the food poverty line, reduce child labor, increase school enrolment and attendance, and access basic social services. The mechanism in Zimbabwe's Harmonisation Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) program for improving the individual’s health and human capital development, thus providing increased protection from risks and shocks, is a monthly stipend to households delivered bimonthly.

This report provides the 12-month impact results of the AIR's HSCT evaluation; overall the results are encouraging given the short evaluation window. Specifically, after only 12 months (representing 6 payments), the HSCT contributed to improving consumption and food security among smaller households, and improved resiliency through debt reduction, increased livestock holdings, and reductions in exposure to shocks. Among young people, the HSCT reduced certain aspects of HIV-related behavioral risk such as delaying the age at first sex and increasing the use of condoms at first sex.