Does the Unconditional Kenya's Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Have Impacts on Schooling?

The evaluation design was a location-randomised social experiment with a baseline household survey conducted in 2007 and a 24-month follow-up in 2009

Abstract

The Kenya Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) The CT-OVC is the Government of Kenya’s flagship social protection programme, currently reaching approximately 130,000 households across the country. Its objective is to provide regular cash transfer payments to families living with OVC to encourage fostering and retention of children and to promote their human capital development. Eligible households, those who are ultra-poor and contain an OVC, receive a flat monthly transfer of Ksh 1500 (approximately US$20). An OVC is defined as a household resident between 0 and 17 years old with at least one deceased parent, or who is chronically ill, or whose main caregiver is chronically ill. The programme is unconditional, although households are informed that the care and protection of the resident OVC is their responsibility for receiving the cash payment.

Prior to expansion of the programme in 2007, UNICEF and the Government of Kenya designed a social experiment to track its impact on a range of household and child welfare indicators. The evaluation design was a location-randomised social experiment with a baseline household survey conducted in 2007 and a 24-month follow-up in 2009. Within each of seven districts across the country, four locations were identified as eligible, and two were randomised out of the initial expansion phase and served as control locations. The evaluation sample contains 2234 households, of which two-thirds are from intervention locations.

Citation

Kenya CT-OVC Evaluation Team. Does the Unconditional Kenya’s Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Have Impacts on Schooling? International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC - IG), Brasilia, Brazil (2012) 1 p pp.

Published 1 January 2012