Policies

Conditional Cash transfer

Context and Issue

Cash transfer schemes (CCTs) include providing modest financial support to increase the outreach to marginalized and vulnerable within the country; in the context of Nigeria, The World Bank, ESSPIN-UKAID, and The Kano State Ministry of Education worked together to facilitate families with girls.

Solution

The CCT initiative was a three-year pilot scholarship program designed to aid in educating girls, particularly those in disadvantaged households, enabling them to access primary education. The CTT intended to cover incidental expenses associated with attending school, such as uniforms and stationery and compensate for potential lost income from street vending. These transfers were specifically aimed at girls from impoverished backgrounds to discourage them from engaging in street vending to ensure their safety from potential physical and psychological harm. The inclusion criteria of the intervention depended on factors such as enrollment, regular attendance, and academic performance.

Analysis

There is evidence that financial support and comprehensive monitoring measures can improve the test scores for students and reduce teacher absenteeism. An experimental study conducted in India highlighted that Teacher absenteeism in the treatment group fell by 21 percentage points relative to the control group, and the children's test scores increased by 0.17 standard deviations. (Duflo, Esther, Rema Hanna, and Stephen P. Ryan. 2012. "Incentives Work: Getting Teachers to Come to School." American Economic Review, 102 (4): 1241-78.)