The Political Implications of Cash Transfers in Sub-saharan Africa

Following success in Latin America, cash transfers are rapidly gaining currency as a principal tool for social protection in Africa. Pilot projects abound, but are often conceived and evaluated without much attention to the political and social implications of targeting, of payment systems, and of introducing cash into poor communities. These implications can be profound, and must be considered in designing cash transfer programmes. Using examples from Oxford Policy Management's evaluation and design work in Kenya, we discuss effects on the political and social fabric of in particular (1) targeting, (2) payments systems and (3) the overall process of cash transfers. First, who is targeted, how and who targets can radically alter local power relations, and this can have national consequences. Targeting divides communities into recipients and non-recipients, and this has consequences for social relations. Second, different payment systems create different requirements for civil registration, possibilities for fraud and opportunities for connectedness. These requirements and opportunities all have potential to change citizens' relationship with the State with far-reaching political implications. Finally, because of these effects, implementing a system of cash transfers (even a pilot project) is not an apolitical policy intervention and in fact will influence quite profoundly relationships between individuals within households, within communities and within the broader polity. This has an effect on the development direction of the country in question. We ask whether this should be the donors' role, and suggest greater engagement with national and local political actors in planning, designing and implementing cash transfer programmes.