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30 Jan 2016
Report

Cash for Women's Empowerment? A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Government of Zambia's Child Grant Programme

Office of Research - Innocenti Working Paper

Juan Bonilla, AIR
Rosa Castro Zarzur, AIR
Sudhanshu Handa, UNC-Chapel Hill and UNICEF Office of Research, Florence
Claire Nowlin, AIR
Amber Peterman, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence
Hannah Ring
David Seidenfeld

The empowerment of women is an often-cited objective and benefit of social cash transfer programs in developing countries. Despite the promise and potential of cash transfers to empower women, the evidence supporting this outcome is mixed. In addition, there is little evidence from program that have gone to scale in sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper reports findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of the Government of Zambia’s Child Grant Programme, a poverty-targeted, unconditional transfer given to mothers or primary caregivers of young children aged 0 to 5. Results show potential for national, poverty-targeted, unconditional, government-run programmes in Africa, to improve the well-being of female beneficiaries.

The program included a quantitative component (a four-year longitudinal clustered randomized control trial in three rural districts) and a qualitative component (a one-time data collection involving in-depth interviews with women and their partners). Qualitatively, we found that changes in intrahousehold relationships were limited by entrenched gender norms, which indicate men as heads of household and primary decision-makers. However, women’s narratives showed the transfer did increase overall household well-being because they felt increased financial empowerment and were able to retain control over transfers for household investment and savings for emergencies. The paper highlights methodological challenges in using intrahousehold decision-making as the primary indicator to measure empowerment.

Cash for Women's Empowerment? A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Government of Zambia's Child Grant Programme (PDF)

Related Work

1 Dec 2014
Report

Zambia’s Child Grant Program: 36-Month Impact Report

A cash grant program for households with children under five in three districts in Zambia generated positive impacts, both in terms of immediate needs of the family and children's health, and in longer term productivity. This third report builds upon the results of the 24- and 30-month reports.
Topic: 
Health, International, International Early Childhood and Child Development, International Health and Social Protection, Early Childhood and Child Development
4 Jun 2014
Index

AIR Index: Zambia’s Cash Transfer Program

Zambia rolled out a no-strings-attached cash transfer program in 2010 for households with at least one child under five. Here’s a quick look at some of the results.
Topic: 
International, International Health and Social Protection
28 Nov 2011
Report

Zambia’s Child Grant Program: Baseline Report

In 2010, Zambia’s Ministry of Community Development and Social Services began implementing the Child Grant cash transfer program in three districts. An impact evaluation with experimental design accompanied the program in order to learn its effects on recipients and provide evidence for making decisions about the future of the program. AIR was contracted by UNICEF Zambia in 2010 to design and implement a randomized controlled trial for a three-year impact evaluation of the program and to conduct the necessary data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Topic: 
International, International Health and Social Protection

Further Reading

  • Zambia's Child Grant Program: 48-Month Impact Report
  • Impact Evaluation of Zambia’s Child Grant Program
  • International Women's Day
  • The Effects of Economic Self-Help Group Programs on Women’s Empowerment: A Systematic Review
  • Unconditional Government Social Cash Transfer in Africa Does Not Increase Fertility
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David Seidenfeld

Vice President, International Research and Evaluation

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Gender Equality
International Health and Social Protection

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