The Transfer Project
Project | Generating rigorous evidence on cash transfer programmes in Africa and beyond
Overview
Cash transfers continue to be a major social protection instrument that governments use to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1 which aims to tackle poverty through social protection. In recent years, cash-based programming has become even more vital for building resilience to covariate shocks including the pandemic, the global cost of living crisis, conflict and climate shocks, and for ensuring equity during this era of polycrisis.
Working closely with governments and local research organizations, the Transfer Project has been contributing to stronger policy and programme design and implementation through long-term multi-country rigorous evidence on the design, implementation, impacts, shock responsiveness, and political and financial sustainability of government-run cash-based programmes (cash transfers and cash plus programmes).
Research pillars
Research pillars
This research pillar examines the impacts of government-run cash transfers and cash plus programmes. This is achieved through national longitudinal mixed-methods studies and operational research which examines the design and implementation process and how it influences the achievement of impacts. The research addresses knowledge gaps in several domains, including:
- Gender equality and women's empowerment
- Long-term impacts including adolescent transitions to adulthood
- Urban areas
- People with disability
- Resilience to shocks through cash transfers and shock-responsive cash-based programming.
This pillar generates evidence on public finance for and the political economy of sustainable social protection to inform governments, UNICEF advocacy strategies and donor engagement. Approaches include cost feasibility analyses, fiscal space and budget analyses, cost of inaction analyses, and analyses of the returns to social protection investments. Research also includes political economy analyses of the decision-making on the financing, design and coverage of cash transfers.
Under this pillar, researchers undertake in-depth country-level and cross-country analyses to respond to evidence gaps on social transfer programmes and social protection systems in the region. This is achieved through in-depth analyses of survey data collected from various countries over the years.
This pillar facilitates mechanisms for learning and exchange among regional policymakers, implementers, researchers and civil society – through workshops, web resources, public data availability and open-access publications.
Project publications
Partners
The Transfer Project is a multi-country cash transfer research initiative and a thought leader on cash transfers in Africa. Established in 2008, the collaborative has been led by UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, and has been a major contributor to the evidence base on cash transfers (CTs) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other regions. Since 2014, UNICEF Innocenti is a key partner, working in close collaboration with UNICEF headquarters, regional and country offices, with the generous support of SIDA.