AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH Child Grant Social Cash Transfer Programme in Zambia Gelson Tembo, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer Department of Agricultural Economics, The University of Zambia Presented at the Recent Developments in the Role and Design of Social Protection Programmes: A Policy Dialogue, Expert Workshop and South-South Learning Event Hotel St. Paul Plaza, Brasilia, Brazil, December 3-5, 2012
Road Map Evolution of SCT programs in Zambia Why the Child Grant Program Key program design features CGP impact evaluation Study design Preliminary results
Evolution of SCTs in Zambia
Three Phases of SCTs Phase 1 (2003-06): The first pilot scheme in one district, Kalomo In 2005 Social Protection Strategy formally recognized SCTs as a viable strategy Phase 2 (2006-10): Four more pilot districts added Three variants of Kalomo model One old pension scheme Phase 3 (2010-): Role out stage
Phase 1: The Kalomo Pilot First SCT experience from 2003 Supported mainly with GTZ funding Original idea was to reduce poverty among households that were extremely poor and had limited labor capacity Bottom 10% Identified through community-based targeting Transfer size K40,000 (= $10.00) per month K50,000 (= $12.50) with children
Monze 2007 40,000 50,000 Soft conditionalities: - School enrolment, attendance - Health under-five cards, etc Phase 2a: Variants of Kalomo Model District Year started Size of monthly transfer (ZMK) Variations from Kalomo model Without children With childre n Chipata 2006 40,000 50,000 - School soft conditionality - Urban-based - Additional ZMK10-20,000 per school-going child up to four Kazungula 2006 40,000 50,000 - Application to remote, hard-toreach, sparsely populated areas
Phase 2b: Katete Pension Scheme Started in 2007 Completely different from the Kalomo model Targeting: All 60-year-olds or older included Regardless of wealth status! Transfer size: ZMK60,000 per month
Phase 3: SCT scale up By 2010, the five SCT schemes had reached 11,000 beneficiaries Indications of positive impact motivated desire to implement SCTs at a larger scale 7-year MOU signed between GRZ and cooperating partners, led by DFID, UNICEF Expand SCTs from 5 to 15 districts Indicative funding of $60 million Subject to a major mid-term review and rigorous impact evaluation
Two SCT variants under MOU An updated version of the CBT (Kalomo) model expanded to five districts Later transformed into multi-category model, identified through analysis of 2006 LCMS data Asset-based PCA to identify the categories Poverty-based vulnerability analysis OVCs; female-headed; elderly headed; disabled Child Grant Program in five districts most affected by under-five mortality, morbidity Based on poverty rankings of districts by CSO
Remotest, hard-to-reach parts of the country Journey to each takes 2 days
Staggered implementation Scheme Start Year MC/OVC Program 2010 - Serenje - Luwingu - Zambezi Scale-up districts Child Grant Program - Kalabo - Kaputa - Shang'ombo 2012 - Chiengi - Chilubi 2013 - Senanga - Milenge? Have the highest rates of under-five mortality, morbidity, stunting and wasting
Why the Child Grant Program?
Program Goals The CGP program aims to attain two major goals As identified by the Child Grant Manual (MCDSS) These are to: Reduce extreme poverty Reduce inter-generational transfer of poverty
Program Objectives Supplement, not replace, household income Increase the number of children enrolled and attending school Reduce under-five mortality and morbidity Reduce under-five stunting and wasting Increase asset-ownership, such as livestock Increase number of households with a second meal per day
Design Features of CGP
Transfer Size ZMK 55,000 ( $11) per month per household Equivalent to ZMK11,000 (or 20 cents) per capita Representing 27% increase in per capita expenditure
Comparable with other Countries Country Percent of mean per capita expenditure (%) Ghana 7 Kenya 20 Malawi 30 Mexico 21 Colombia 25
Targeting and Implementation All households with under-five children Implemented through Community Welfare Assistance Committees (CWACs) Manual payment mechanism Using Pay Point Managers (PPMs) Staggered implementation Delayed control CWACs within district CWACs randomly assigned to treatment
CGP Impact Evaluation
Cash Transfer Conceptual Framework Distance/quality of facilities Prices Moderators Shocks Infrastructure Maternal literacy Young Child 0-5 yrs Feeding Household Nutrition Morbidity Consumption School readiness Food Security Material well-being Investment Crop production Livestock Time-use Use of services Income Older Child 6-18 yrs Schooling Morbidity Material well-being Work Caring practices Mediators Women s empowerment Patience Work Income Adult care-giver Self-assessed wellbeing
Multisite, Two-Stage RCT Study undertaken in all three districts CWAC randomized within district multisite Selecting 30 of 100 CWACs per district 28 households randomly selected within each selected CWAC Sample size = 3 x 30 x 28 = 2,520 hhs Random assignment of sample CWACs to treatment arms treatment and control
Survey Questionnaires Main/household questionnaires, including Anthropometric measurements for under-fives Operational performance module Community questionnaires Community-level moderating variables Health facility questionnaires Availability of health facilities and services Business enterprise survey for GE analysis
Four-Wave Longitudinal Study Wave Expected timing Year Month(s) Baseline 2010 Oct-Dec 1 st follow up 2012 Oct-Nov 2 nd follow up (harvest season) 2013 May-June 3 rd follow up 2013 Oct-Nov
24-Month Follow Up Survey
Only the first two waves completed Still entering data for the first follow up survey Some key results from the baseline Randomization successful at balancing characteristics across treatment arms Significant predicted impact on Some child indicators Food spending (esp. cereals; meats; fruits; tubers) Household food security Material wellbeing Results
Demographic Composition: More young children! LCMS CGP Rural Rural child<5 3 districts child<5 Household size 5.7 5.2 6.2 5.9 Children 0-5 1.9 0.9 1.6 1.6 Children 6-12 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.4 People 13+ 2.5 3.1 3.1 2.9
Acknowledgements Funding/Mandate Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health (MCDCH) UNICEF DFID Irish Aid GTZ/GIZ Impact Evaluation American Institutes for Research (AIR) Palm Associates Limited (PAL) PtoP project (FAO; UC Davis) MASDAR (UK) The World Bank