Building on previous experience in Uganda, the Belgian organisation Eight World vzw started in October 2021, an Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) pilot project in a village in an artisanal mining zone in the territory of Pangi, in Maniema province, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Eight World transfers cash directly to individual beneficiaries via a mobile money system. Each adult living in the UCT village received 20 USD per month via her/his phone, for two years, and each child in the village received monthly 10 USD during the same period. The beneficiaries were free to decide how to spend the money, not constrained by pre-specified requirements.
IPIS has undertaken a comprehensive endline study to evaluate key indicators related to the socio-economic, physical, and mental well-being of UCT recipients, and provide insights into the impact of the UCT programme on beneficiaries. IPIS assessed potential effects of the UCT intervention by comparing outcomes between the UCT village and a Control village before (baseline), during (midline), and immediately after (endline) the UCT programme. After two years, substantial changes were observed in the UCT village for several key factors, (including housing, health, and diet variety) compared to the Control village. The findings suggest that the intervention has positively affected socio-economic conditions of the UCT recipients in a village located in Maniema province’s artisanal mining zone.
Effects on socio-economic well-being
‘Housing’ is one of the indicators that is used to measure the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of people: a household is considered deprived regarding housing if at least one of the three materials for roof, walls or floor are inadequate. The endline study confirms a significant increase in households living in a house with metal roofs in the UCT village. Several UCT beneficiaries invested in batteries and solar panels. While at baseline access to electricity was highly comparable in both villages, a gradual increase of households gaining access to electricity was observed in the UCT village.
throughout the study.
Inhabitants of the UCT village also invested mobile money in livestock breeding, farming tools, or the construction of fishponds. Cash transfers seemed to have contributed to the improvement of the diet quality and variety of UCT recipients, having confirmed that fish has become a daily component of their diet.
Changes in job variety and entrepreneurship
Data were less conclusive regarding potential effects on job variety and entrepreneurship. Midline results suggested a positive effect of the UCT programme on variety of professional occupation and entrepreneurship, showing a decrease of the number of artisanal miners in the UCT village, and a concomitant increase of inhabitants who had taken up jobs other than mining or farming. However, this change did not seem sustainable. Interestingly, artisanal miners invested in protective mining equipment during the UCT programme. More than 70% of miners in the UCT village were wearing rubber boots while mining at endline.
Health
The number of respondents feeling healthy or very healthy increased substantially in the UCT village to reach 83%, contrary to the Control village (53%). The UCT village showed a strong increase in the proportion of inhabitants able to buy medication (either for themselves or for their sick children). However, we should consider these figures with caution because of the small number of people who confirmed having been sick.
Participation in CSOs and independent decision-making
The potential effect on participation and civic engagement is less clear. UCT beneficiaries who confirmed that they participated in a CSO, were all members of a savings association. It seems that UCTs have motivated people to join savings groups, allowing them to save and invest their cash for their future. However, the observed increase of CSO participation comes solely from men joining CSOs.
In conclusion, the results show changes in several key indicators in the UCT village throughout the intervention, that are absent in the Control village (or present only to a lesser extent). The observation that these changes affect a range of diverse indicators and occurred in the UCT village only, strongly suggests that the intervention has a positive effect on the socio-economic well-being of UCT recipients in a village in an artisanal mining zone, in Maniema province. Moreover, it seems that people have spent the mobile money they have received unconditionally during a period of two years, responsibly with the intention to improve their socio-economic well-being.
Cover picture: Members of a saving group in the UCT village. ©Eight
This study has been conducted in the framework of a project implemented by Eight world vzw and financed by the Belgian Ministry of Development Cooperation (DGD).
