TY - JOUR
T1 - The experience of cash transfers in alleviating childhood poverty in South Africa: Mothers' experiences of the Child Support Grant
AU - Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga
AU - Surender, Rebecca
AU - Sanders, David
AU - Jackson, Debra
AU - Doherty, Tanya
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Cash transfer (CT) programmes are increasingly being used as policy instruments to address child poverty and child health outcomes in developing countries. As the largest cash-transfer programme in Africa, the South African Child Support Grant (CSG) provides an important opportunity to further understand how a CT of its kind works in a developing country context. We explored the experiences and views of CSG recipients and non-recipients from four diverse settings in South Africa. Four major themes emerged from the data: barriers to accessing the CSG; how the CSG is utilised and the ways in which it makes a difference; the mechanisms for supplementing the CSG; and the impact of not receiving the grant. Findings show that administrative factors continue to be the greatest barrier to CSG receipt, pointing to the need for further improvements in managing queues, waiting times and coordination between departments for applicants trying to submit their applications. Many recipients, especially those where the grant was the only source of income, acknowledged the importance of the CSG, while also emphasising its inadequacy. To maximise their impact, CT programmes such as the CSG need to be fully funded and form part of a broader basket of poverty alleviation strategies.
AB - Cash transfer (CT) programmes are increasingly being used as policy instruments to address child poverty and child health outcomes in developing countries. As the largest cash-transfer programme in Africa, the South African Child Support Grant (CSG) provides an important opportunity to further understand how a CT of its kind works in a developing country context. We explored the experiences and views of CSG recipients and non-recipients from four diverse settings in South Africa. Four major themes emerged from the data: barriers to accessing the CSG; how the CSG is utilised and the ways in which it makes a difference; the mechanisms for supplementing the CSG; and the impact of not receiving the grant. Findings show that administrative factors continue to be the greatest barrier to CSG receipt, pointing to the need for further improvements in managing queues, waiting times and coordination between departments for applicants trying to submit their applications. Many recipients, especially those where the grant was the only source of income, acknowledged the importance of the CSG, while also emphasising its inadequacy. To maximise their impact, CT programmes such as the CSG need to be fully funded and form part of a broader basket of poverty alleviation strategies.
KW - adequacy
KW - cash transfers
KW - child poverty
KW - nutrition
KW - South Africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938959232&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17441692.2015.1007471
DO - 10.1080/17441692.2015.1007471
M3 - Article
SN - 1744-1692
VL - 10
SP - 834
EP - 851
JO - Global Public Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice
JF - Global Public Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice
IS - 7
ER -