Assessing the Role of Electronic Household Grants in Malawi: Final Work Plan

The initiative, Assessing the Role of Electronic Household Grants in Malawi, aimed to provide household grants to approximately 11,000 Malawian families, with a focus on food-insecure households, smallholder farmers, adolescent girls and young women, orphans and vulnerable children, and households engaged in livelihoods that profit from the destruction of natural resources. The initiative was designed to provide a benchmark for USAID/Malawi's portfolio, allowing policymakers to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of development activities. GiveDirectly, the implementing partner, will implement the initiative in two districts, Machinga and Chiradzulu, which were selected due to their operational and security concerns. The initiative will target specific sub-groups of interest to USAID/Malawi, including households with pregnant mothers or children under 5. Independent evaluators working through the University of California, Berkeley's Development Impact Lab will conduct a randomized controlled trial to provide objective data on the impact of household grants on indicators of interest to USAID/Malawi. The trial will also evaluate the complementary and independent impact of market access on HHG recipients and non-HHG recipients. Additionally, the initiative will provide a "use case" demonstration of the challenges and benefits of incorporating the Government of Malawi's new national ID card into the recipient enrollment process. Malawi faces significant development challenges, including poverty, food insecurity, and deforestation. The country's population is growing rapidly, contributing to forest loss, land degradation, and increased demands on arable land. The Government of Malawi has implemented several household grants programs, including the Social Cash Transfer Program, which has reached 163,000 ultra-poor and labor-constrained households, leading to increased food security, dietary diversity, and household consumption. The objectives of the initiative are to directly transform the lives of HHG recipients, study the impacts of HHGs on a diverse range of target populations and indicators, and provide a "use case" demonstration of the new GoM national ID card. Each of these objectives is discussed in detail below. The initiative will directly help approximately 11,000 Malawian households address their diverse needs, including increased asset investment, income, food security, and female empowerment. The randomized controlled trial will provide objective data on the impact of household grants on indicators of interest to USAID/Malawi, including food security, income, and asset ownership. The trial will also evaluate the complementary and independent impact of market access on HHG recipients and non-HHG recipients. The initiative will also provide a "use case" demonstration of the challenges and benefits of incorporating the Government of Malawi's new national ID card into the recipient enrollment process. The initiative will closely collaborate with the Government of Malawi to enhance the effectiveness of their flagship Zomba Cash Transfer Program and Social Cash Transfer Program. The initiative will also provide a benchmark for USAID/Malawi's portfolio, allowing policymakers to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of development activities. The results of the initiative will allow policymakers to estimate the returns per dollar spent on HHGs for specific target populations and compare these to the returns per dollar spent on other activities targeting the same populations.