Manicaland Cash Transfer Trial for Children in Zimbabwe

Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether cash transfers (conditional and unconditional) can improve health and social outcomes amongst children living in vulnerable households in Manicaland, eastern Zimbabwe. The study hypotheses are:

1. Cash transfers will increase the percentage of vulnerable children aged 0-4 years with a birth certificate.
2. Cash transfers will increase the percentage of vulnerable children aged 0-4 years with up-to-date vaccinations.
3. Cash transfers will increase the percentage of vulnerable children aged 6-12 years attending primary school at least 80% of days per month.

Conditions

• Vaccination
• Education
• Birth Registration
• Financial Support

Interventions

OTHER

Conditional Cash Transfer

Households will receive bimonthly payments of US$18 plus US$4 per child under 18 years living in the house up to a maximum of 3 children i.e. transfers will vary from $22 to $30. Households will only be given the cash if they comply with the following conditions: * An application for a birth certificate must be made for all children under 18 years in the household who do not already have a birth certificate, including all newborn children within 3 months of birth. * All children under 5 years in the household must be up-to-date with vaccinations. * All children under 5 years must attend a growth monitoring clinic twice per year. * All children 6-17 years in the household attended school at least 90% of days in the last month. * At least one adult from each household attended at least 2 of the 3 most recent parenting skills classes.

OTHER

Unconditional Cash Transfers

Households will receive bimonthly payments of US$18 plus US$4 per child under 18 years living in the house up to a maximum of 3 children i.e. transfers will vary from $22 to $30. Households will not be required to comply with conditions in order to receive the cash.

OTHER

Standard Agricultural Package

A standard agricultural package (e.g. seeds, fertiliser etc.) will be distributed in all study arms including the control arm as a gesture of goodwill to all those participating in the study.

OTHER

Parenting Skills Classes

2-3 parenting skills classes will be held annually in each study cluster.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Biomedical Research and Training Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Catholic Relief Services

  collaborator OTHER

• UNICEF

  collaborator OTHER

• Wellcome Trust

  collaborator OTHER

• World Bank

  collaborator OTHER

• Imperial College London

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Laura Robertson, MSc · Imperial College London

• Simon Gregson, DPhil · Imperial College London

• Constance Nyamukapa, PhD · Imperial College London

• Shungu Munyati, MSc · Biomedical Research and Training Institute

• Phyllis Mushati, MSc · Biomedical Research and Training Institute

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Max Age

17 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-08-31

Primary Completion

2011-02-28

Completion

2011-02-28

Countries

• Zimbabwe

Study Locations