|
EMERGENCY CASH TRANFSER PILOT PROJECT  Training on use of ATM machine - Othandweni Beneficiaries of the Save the Children programme in Swaziland receive E30 / person / household (half food ration), E20 / household (non food items – soap, washing powder, toothpaste, etc) and E25 / household (transport) on a monthly basis. They also receive a half food ration, donated in kind by the Swaziland National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and World Food Programme (WFP). For example, a household of 6 people will receive 36kg Maize, 5.7kg beans and 2.250l vegetable oil as well as E225 (GBP16). The aim is to give households the freedom to decide what they would like to buy, affording children and adults access to a more diverse and suitable diet. It will also allow families to choose their priorities, be they healthcare, education or something completely different.
One of the objectives of the response is to protect and /or promote livelihoods so that households will not find themselves in a worse situation the following year. For this reason a sum of E470 (GBP32) was transferred to each household during the first transfer in November 07. This was designed to assist households during the planting season but its use was more diverse. In some cases it was used to buy food in bulk but was often used to make useful investments in poultry, seeds and fertilizer amongst other things.
 Using an ATM machine - Siphofaneni Town March 2008
A defining and important part of the project has been the training and investment of time in communicating the concept to our communities. In the previous 3 months SC have been working on 2 training programmes, one designed to reach the adults and one for the child headed households. The training for adults was a 3 hour session and was carried out at the February food distribution within the community. This training used different medium including lecture sessions on the particulars of the bank accounts, participation in identifying and discussing community challenges in financial literacy and role play to address some of the confusions around a new approach, including importantly new aspects such as using an ATM machine and understanding the ‘secret’ PIN number.
Save the Children have 150 child headed households registered in the two regions. These households are treated as a family just like others, but the project was designed to reach the specific needs of these households in terms of investing in their future and acknowledging their emotional needs also. They receive exactly the same food and money ration but the additional risk of distributing cash to minors was acknowledged in the additional training provided. A three day module covered budgeting and prioritizing family needs with a basic psycho social support model looking at bereavement, confidence and self esteem, decision making and other topics. Raising awareness on child protection and abuse issues assists children to understand their basic rights but the training aimed to help the children to understand the responsibility that they have in obtaining these needs.
The project has a rigorous monitoring process to ascertain the level of impact this approach will have and the relative benefits of distributing cash in a food response. The monitoring process began with a baseline survey prior to implementation of 1,400 households across all project areas, including areas which receive a full food ration and no cash. The survey collected data on household education and demographics, income, expenditure and consumption, child care practices and dietary intake of infants. A household survey of the same 200 households each month collects data on expenditure and consumption and a number of structured focus group discussions (40) support the quantifiable data with some more detailed community perceptions. A full evaluation will be carried out in June.
Achievements / outputs- 4,000 people obtained national ID cards in the space of 5 weeks
- 6,100 private bank accounts opened and monthly transfers made to all households
- 7,650 households receive a monthly food transfer
- A baseline survey of 1,400 households provides useful data on which to measure impact
- Monthly qualitative and quantitative monitoring measures trends in expenditure and diet and allows for changes / modifications in programming.
- 7,650 households receive training on investments and savings, bank accounting and budgeting
- 150 child headed households are trained in family management, budgeting and prioritising family needs
Opening of accounts for beneficiaries proved to be an administrative challenge requiring detailed information from the community and careful data management by the project team. In total 6,100 (82%) households opened an account in the set up stage of the project. A key challenge in programme set up was the bank requirement for proof of national identity. Fewer than 35% of all registered household heads held a national ID card. Over 4,000 people were mobilized to apply for and obtain a national ID card, which has additional benefits in the future. Some 1,400 households failed to make use of this service in the time period due to many very different factors. These households receive a full food ration.
The monthly quantitative survey has shown increased dietary diversity in infants and positive spending on education, health care and livelihoods. Dietary diversity in infants has improved during the project period in both groups but remains constantly higher in the food and cash group. Trends are now stabilizing in the food and cash group, indicating that the delivery of a predictable transfer of cash and food to these households is allowing for budgeting and planning of expenditure. In the food only group spending on food remains a similar percentage of their monthly expenditure but fluctuates considerably when other pressures on expenditure are apparent. During January, when there was a high demand on education related costs, spending on food in the food only group dropped from 70% to just 15% to cope with this demand. Whilst this pattern was apparent in the food and cash group the food expenditure did not see the same drop.
The decline in household assets owned for both groups slowed in December, the 2nd month of the programme and within the food and cash group mean numbers of hand tools, chickens and goats has risen in the past two months.
Early focus group discussion s focused on the process and on specific community perceptions of the programme, to inform the content of the training sessions and to make any necessary changes to the programme implementation. Recent focus group discussions followed up on the first round and looked more closely at gender and generation relations as a result of the programme and misuse of the money. Perceptions and understanding of the complexities of the programme and its approach have improved dramatically since the training and other important changes / additions that were made to the approach.
When given a choice of food only, cash only or food and cash almost all groups chose food and cash (including those on a full food ration). Those choosing food only did not trust themselves to spend money responsibly and did not think that the market would support the demand for maize and those choosing cash only preferred to choose what they buy and are not happy with the reliability of food aid distribution. Stated benefits on children were more options for food (diversity) and the ability to purchase soap and support school costs. Disputes and misuse of the money at household level is present but is not perceived to be a big problem. Interestingly misuse of the money does not appear to be dominated by men, with as many women wasting money on clothes, nights out and alcohol as men. Disputes at household level are not solely between women and men but also between generations. A good example is children demanding ‘their share’ of the money from elderly carers – a response to the education received by SC on how the money value is decided (per person).
April is the final cash transfer for these households and will include an additional sum of E350 (GBP25) to support investments and savings as per training offered to all households and support the harvest period. During FGDs many stated that they would continue to use their accounts to deposit small sums of money and to keep their money safe. Others including most of our elderly beneficiaries suggest that they will not have the funds to maintain their accounts and do not think that they will use their accounts again.
Although positive trends and feedback are apparent the impact of the approach remains inconclusive until the evaluation is completed. Undoubtedly people are benefitting from access to money and the flexibility that this allows them. The support given to the account holders in opening and maintaining their accounts has been considerable and it remains to be seen whether this support will be taken up by the bank in absence of the Save the Children team.
|
