Tackling psychosocial and capital constraints to alleviate poverty

Article

关键词: MICROFINANCE EVIDENCE;    MICROCREDIT;    IMPACTS;    TRANSFERS;    CYCLE;    CASH;   

DOI  :  10.1038/s41586-022-04647-8

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

Many policies attempt to help extremely poor households build sustainable sources of income. Although economic interventions have predominated historically(1,2), psychosocial support has attracted substantial interest(3-5), particularly for its potential cost-effectiveness. Recent evidence has shown that multi-faceted 'graduation' programmes can succeed in generating sustained changes(6,7). Here we showthat a multi-faceted intervention can open pathways out of extreme poverty by relaxing capital and psychosocial constraints. We conducted a four-arm randomized evaluation among extremely poor female beneficiaries already enrolled in a national cash transfer government programme in Niger. The three treatment arms included group savings promotion, coaching and entrepreneurship training, and then added either a lump-sum cash grant, psychosocial interventions, or both the cash grant and psychosocial interventions. All three armsgenerated positive effects on economic outcomes and psychosocial well-being, but there were notable differences in the pathways and the timing of effects. Overall, the arms with psychosocial interventions were the most cost-effective, highlighting the value of including well-designed psychosocial components in government-led multi-faceted interventions for the extreme poor.

【 授权许可】

Free