GiveDirectly

Traditional refugee aid is typically in-kind forms of relief (food, shelter, clothes) or more recently, small and frequent small cash transfers, both of which essentially service consumption requirements. GiveDirectly have pioneered a model of large lump-sum cash transfers for poverty alleviation, and contributed to an extensive body of evidence which points to significant increases in earnings and assets and investments in nutrition for recipients of cash transfers. The vision is to adapt this model for implementation in protracted refugee settings, to test whether large lump-sum cash transfer, as opposed to traditional forms of aid, can enable refugees to jump start a better life and build sustainable livelihoods. By generating learning and adding to the evidence base, GiveDirectly aims to influence the effectiveness and efficiency of aid money spent in refugee resettlement.

In December 2022, GiveDirectly completed the enrollment of 14,274 households, 9,366 from refugee communities and 4,938 from host communities, all of which have now received lump sum cash transfers. The results from the randomised evaluation were released in July 2022, showing significant impacts on monthly consumption, assets, business ownership and revenue for businesses, as well as psychological well-being. Overall, cash transfer recipients increased their consumption by 11% per month compared to those who did not receive the transfer, with large increases in expenditure on food consumption. The value of assets owned increased by, on average 60%. Note these gains were despite the COVID-19 lockdowns which limited economic activity for much of the period between the transfer and the endline survey. These results have been widely disseminated and GiveDirectly is working to expand its refugee programming in Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya, while continuing to engage key partners such as UNHCR and WFP on the relevance of the findings to their work. GIF’s investment concluded in 2023.