If You Give People Cash, Does It Help?
In Uganda, researchers evaluated a government program that gave unsupervised cash grants to youth for small business development and training. Based on final results four years after the intervention, the cash transfers achieved nearly all the goal...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/11/18563428/uganda-give-people-cash-help http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22607 |
| Summary: | In Uganda, researchers evaluated a
government program that gave unsupervised cash grants to
youth for small business development and training. Based on
final results four years after the intervention, the cash
transfers achieved nearly all the goals. Beneficiaries
invested most of the cash in building business
opportunities. While they still did agricultural work, they
spent more time working in skilled industry and services and
their incomes rose. The study also illustrates the important
weaknesses of microfinance. This impact evaluation and a
host of other studies show that many young adults have high
returns on investment when they have access to capital.
Microloans are poor vehicles for small business growth and
the development of cottage industry. As governments and the
private sector work to develop this financial
sophistication, cash transfers are likely to be important
drivers of poverty alleviation and development for youth.
This Evidence to Policy note was jointly produced by the
World Bank Group, the Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund
(SIEF), and the British governments Department for
International Development. |
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