Strategies towards enhancing the effectiveness of the urban cash transfer program in addressing household poverty in Karoi urban
- Author
- Mudawarima, Nyasha B.
- Title
- Strategies towards enhancing the effectiveness of the urban cash transfer program in addressing household poverty in Karoi urban
- Abstract
- For many years, poverty has been one of the most prominent social ills faced by different households in urban societies particularly in Karoi. This has called for the government to implement cash transfer programs to relieve households of poverty specifically harmonized social cash transfers but their effectiveness remains uncertain. Hence the study sought to explore strategies towards enhancing the effectiveness of the urban cash transfer program in addressing household poverty in Karoi Urban. The research objectives were to examine the impact of urban cash transfer programs on household food security, access to quality health care and education, to investigate the sustainability of urban cash transfer programs in achieving long term poverty alleviation and to come up with strategies and evidence based solutions to improve the efficacy of the program. The study adopted a mixed method approach using a case study design with a sample size of 20 participants which was selected from the targeted population through simple random sampling and purposive sampling. The data for the study was collected through in-depth interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions. Thematic analysis as well as descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings show that households can’t access food security, health care and education at once due to limited amount of cash transfers hence most households can acquire either food, education or health or just 2 of the aspects. Most households aren’t able to employ exit strategies such as income generating projects to sustain a living given that these programs seize hence questioning sustainability due to limited amount of cash transfers, lack of financial literacy and dependency syndrome. The findings also identified some challenges that the beneficiaries and implementers of the program face such as exclusion errors, dependency syndrome and limited amount of cash benefits as well as lack of resources which hinder effectiveness. Strategies that can employed to curb these challenges includes education of beneficiaries, collaborations and partnerships of program implementers, community engagements and monitoring and evaluation and these strategies for effectiveness should complement each other. The study therefore recommends non-monetary interventions, strengthened targeting mechanisms, collaborations and partnerships, advocacy for policy reforms and robust monitoring and evaluation.
- Date
- June 2025
- Publisher
- BUSE
- Keywords
- Household Poverty
- Urban Cash Transfer
- Supervisor
- Ms. Muregi
- Item sets
- Department of Social Work
