Historically, when an aid organization or government wants to help coffee farmers improve their lives, they give in-kind agricultural interventions, such as seedlings and training. But what if instead of giving goods and services, we just gave farmers cash? Catherine has received transfers as part of BSZ’s experiment in Uganda. You can follow her story, […]
Blog - Operations
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Operations, Research
Unconditional cash transfers and intrahousehold conflict: A pilot study in Kenya
Intimate partner violence is a significant challenge in Kenya, as in other developing countries. Nearly 40% of ever-married Kenyan women report physical abuse by a spouse (KNBS and ICF Macro 2010), and in a separate survey, almost 90% report some form of emotionally abusive treatment (Haushofer and Shapiro 2016). Women who are subject to physical […]
Operations
On accepting fundraising donations
Donors have been asking us why they can’t direct online donations to pay for fundraising, which could potentially generate tremendous leverage for them (details below). It’s a fair question. Here’s how we think about it. For context, we’re not happy with the status quo in which donors typically have very little information about how their […]
Operations
What it’s like to receive a basic income
Last October we began sending monthly universal basic income (UBI) payments to 95 people living in a rural village in Western Kenya. While people in 200 villages will eventually receive cash transfers as part of our test of a UBI, we wanted to begin with a one-village pilot. Doing so allows us to test and […]
Operations
Sending cash to remote places
This year, we are running a small pilot in Uganda’s Acholi sub-region, on the border with South Sudan. Until just over ten years ago, this area was the heartland of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, and the region was embroiled in a protracted civil war. Today, Acholi is at peace, but its people remain amongst […]
Operations
Research Director Field Studies – Day 3: Cash transfer experts
In the final part of this three-part series, GiveDirectly’s Research Director Michael Cooke discusses key takeaways from his trip to visit field teams and recipients in Kenya.At GiveDirectly we talk a lot about the poor being the true poverty experts. Today I had the great privilege of being able to ask questions of poverty experts […]
Operations
Research Director Field Studies – Day 2: Gimoro amora
In the second part of this three-part series, GiveDirectly’s Research Director Michael Cooke discusses key takeaways from his trip to visit field teams and recipients in Kenya. Today I went out with GiveDirectly field staff to shadow the process of enrolling new program recipients. Luo was the primary spoken language of the recipients in the […]
Operations
Research Director Field Studies – Day 1: In the details
In the first part of this three-part series, GiveDirectly’s Research Director Michael Cooke discusses key takeaways from his trip to visit field teams and recipients in Kenya. Truth and customer service: two of many things that have been said to be in the details. What I saw today was GiveDirectly’s call center team in Kisumu, […]
Operations
The largest basic income experiment in history
The second milestone for cash in 2016 (see here for Part 1) was GiveDirectly’s launch of the first long-term Universal Basic Income evaluation in history. Over the last twelve months, cash transfers have moved toward center stage in international policy circles under a new name, Universal Basic Income (UBI). While there has been much debate, […]
Operations
Launch of core operations in Rwanda
In October, the Rwanda team launched its core operations project entitled “Kungahara” (which translates to “Prosper”) with the aim of enrolling 3,600 households by the end of February 2017. Kungahara operates in two sectors in Gicumbi, which is the second poorest district in Rwanda.The modelGiveDirectly Rwanda is utilizing a new model, also being tested in […]