Acceptability of conditions in a community-led cash transfer programme for orphaned and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe

Skovdal, Morten, Robertson, Laura, Mushati, Phyllis, Dumba, Lovemore, Sherr, Lorraine, Nyamukapa, Constance and Gregson, Simon (2013) Acceptability of conditions in a community-led cash transfer programme for orphaned and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe. Health Policy and Planning. pp. 1-9. ISSN 0268-1080

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Abstract

Evidence suggests that a regular and reliable transfer of cash to households with orphaned and vulnerable children has a strong and positive effect on child outcomes. However, conditional cash transfers are considered by some as particularly intrusive and the question on whether or not to apply conditions to cash transfers is an issue of controversy. Contributing to policy debates on the appropriateness of conditions, this article sets out to investigate the overall buy-in of conditions by different stakeholders and to identify pathways that contribute to an acceptability of conditions. The article draws on data from a cluster-randomized trial of a community-led cash transfer programme in Manicaland, eastern Zimbabwe. An endpoint survey distributed to 5167 households assessed community members’ acceptance of conditions and 35 in-depth interviews and 3 focus groups with a total of 58 adults and 4 youth examined local perceptions of conditions. The study found a significant and widespread acceptance of conditions primarily because they were seen as fair and a proxy for good parenting or guardianship. In a socio-economic context where child grants are not considered a citizen entitlement, community members and cash transfer recipients valued the conditions associated with these grants. The community members interpreted the fulfilment of the conditions as a proxy for achievement and merit, enabling them to participate rather than sit back as passive recipients of aid. Although conditions have a paternalistic undertone and engender the sceptics’ view of conditions being pernicious and even abominable, it is important to recognize that community members, when given the opportunity to participate in programme design and implementation, can take advantage of conditions and appropriate them in a way that helps them manage change and overcome the social divisiveness or conflict that otherwise may arise when some people are identified to benefit and others not.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/
Additional Information:	© 2013 The Author
Divisions:	Psychological and Behavioural Science
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Date Deposited:	23 Sep 2013 13:07
Last Modified:	06 Nov 2024 22:57
Funders:	Wellcome Trust, World Bank, Programme of Support for the Zimbabwe National Action Plan for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/52945

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