Cash Transfers, Early Marriage, and Fertility in Malawi and Zambia

AbstractThere is increasing interest in the ability of cash transfers to facilitate safe transitions to adulthood in low ‐income settings; however, evidence from scaled‐up government programming demonstrating this potential is scarce. Using two experimental evaluations of unconditional cash transfers targeted to ultra‐poor and labor‐constrained households over approximately three years in Malawi and Zambia, we examine whether cash transfers delayed early marriage and pregnancy among youth aged 14 to 21 years at baseline. Although we find strong impacts on poverty and schooling, two main pathways hypothesized in the literature, we find limited impacts on safe transition outcomes for both males and female s. In addition, despite hypotheses that social norms may constrain potential impacts of cash transfer programs, we show suggestive evidence that pre‐program variation in social norms across communities does not significantly affect program impact. We conclude with policy implications and suggestio ns for future research.

Source: Studies in Family Planning - November 20, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Fidelia Dake, Luisa Natali, Gustavo Angeles, Jacobus Hoop, Sudhanshu Handa, Amber Peterman, on behalf of the Malawi Cash Transfer Evaluation Team and the Zambia Cash Transfer Evaluation Team Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research