Lesotho child cash grants show surprise side effect of increased school enrolment

Published on 9 September 2015, this article considers the Child Grants Programme (CGP) in Lestho, a joint project of the EU with Lesotho’s government which aimed to help orphans in a country that has an adult HIV prevalence rate of around 23% of the population. The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, provides technical support.

A study by Oxford Policy Management found that nearly all the families who received grants spent the money on their children, with positive results across several indicators: a rise in the percentage of boys enrolling in school instead of taking up the traditional role of cattle herders; a 15% reduction in morbidity among children under the age of five ; and a 37% increase in birth registrations. Unexpectedly, the grants also helped to reduce the annual period of severe food shortages by 1.7 months as recipients bought food, and improved families’ creditworthiness, according to the study. From an initial 1,250 households, the CGP grew to reach 25,000 households, and 65,000 children, by the end of 2014.