In Zambia, families in the CARE SCALE program saw their incomes go up by up to $82 a year. More than half of these people said this helped them support other members of their community. The program worked alongside the government social safety net, but families are also building safety nets of their own.
The Social Cash Transfer for Access to finance, Livelihoods, and Entrepreneurship (SCALE), Zambia was a pilot program that proved the impacts a cash transfer program could have for 7,000 of the most vulnerable people in Zambia.
From 2013-2016, SCALE worked with the Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare in Zambia to design and test a program that could easily scale to reach poor families with cash support, savings, and business skills. The European Union funded this program for $860,000.
What did we accomplish?
- Families had more food: There was a 17% increase in families who reported having access to food, up to 81%. The percent of households that could eat 3 meals a day went up nearly 4 times, to 51%. Groups that were not a part of the program saw no improvement in access to food.
- Social services were more accessible: 65% of families reported an increase in access to social services, including school and health care. This is 26% higher than families who were not in the program.
- Income went up: 82% of families reported having more money, up to 800 Kwacha ($82) a year more. Savings went up by up to $124.
- It got easier to deal with shocks: Families were 42.4 percentage points more likely to use savings to handle shocks than they were at baseline, compared to 35.2 for families outside of the program.
- Credit was more available: There was a nearly 4 fold increase in the ability of families to access loans—up from 21% at the start of the project. This allowed families to start businesses, pay school fees, and invest in farming equipment.
How did we get there?
- Use VSLAs: The number of families in VSLAs doubled from 2013 to 2015.
- Create businesses: 24% of project participants started small businesses so they could earn more money. The project trained people in business and planning skills to increase their success.
- Give families a boost: The project also used Social Cash Transfers to help families get some much needed support to start building their way out of poverty.
- Work with partners: CARE worked with the Zambian Government and local NGOs to help build evidence for how the government can scale this approach.
Want to learn more?
Check out the final evaluation.