Measurement of Interpersonal Violence in National Social Cash Transfer Evaluations (Research brief)

In the past decade, over a dozen government-run cash transfer programmes have been launched in subSaharan Africa as part of national social protection strategies. There is growing evidence on the ability of these programmes to improve children’s and adults’ lives across a range of outcomes including food security, health, nutrition, and educational status. These programmes have great potential to impact broader outcomes, particularly due to the unconditional nature of most programming (i.e., eligibility for transfers are not dependent on recipients’ behaviour). Recently, there has been increased interest in examining whether cash transfer programmes reduce interpersonal violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children (VAC), which are pervasive and constitute a major hindrance to health and development. In this brief, we discuss different approaches that have been implemented in evaluations supported by the Transfer Project (led by UNICEF, FAO, Save the Children-UK, UNC, and national governments, among other partners), a community of practice created to share lessons, experience and expertise between evaluators, government programme managers and development partners.