by Kate McFarland | Dec 10, 2016 | News
The charity GiveDirectly, which is now preparing to launch a large-scale basic income experiment in Kenya, has been giving direct cash donations to poor individuals in Kenya and Uganda since 2009. Now donors and other interested parties will be better able to observe the effects of these cash transfers: in November 2016, GiveDirectly launched a new website, GDLive, which reports live and unedited updates from donation recipients.
As GiveDirectly explains in a blog post, “With GDLive, donors can see when (to the hour), how much, and to whom cash transfers were sent, and learn more about recipients’ lives. Respect also means a commitment to honesty: We aren’t cutting a single recipient’s answers and we’ll show everything they have to say about how GiveDirectly has impacted their lives: the good stories and the bad. We encourage recipients to be as honest as possible.”
To protect privacy, GDLive does not publish individuals’ last names or specific villages. The organization also gathers consent from recipients at multiple stages before publishing their testimonies.
In 2016, about 6500 households in Kenya received cash through GiveDirectly. As of October 19, GiveDirectly reports, about two-thirds consented to sharing their stories on GDLive.
Follow GDLive at live.givedirectly.org.
See also:
Michael Cooke (November 22, 2016) “Human stories are not the opposite of data” GD blog.
Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
Photo of GiveDirectly recipient, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 PROcoolloud
by Hilde Latour | Nov 26, 2016 | News
In a recent IMPAKTER interview, as part of a series exploring the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Ian Bassin (Chief Operating Officer, Domestic, of GiveDirectly), explains how his organization is moving from unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) towards unconditional basic income (UBI) in Kenya.
GiveDirectly traditionally provides UCTs to the extremely poor, operating in Kenya and Uganda.
“We started our program in Kenya because they had a very robust mobile money payment system there, and that’s the means by which we transfer cash to poor households”, Bassin says.
The primary goal of GiveDirectly is to help demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of cash transfers. The research done so far shows that giving money to poor people works.
“Poverty in its simplest terms is a lack of money and resources. It is not a lack of capacity or ability”, Bassin notes. “If we’re not doing more with our dollar than the poor could do for themselves, we should probably just be giving them the dollar.”
Recipients of UCTs don’t spend the cash transfer on vice consumption, like alcohol or tobacco, nor does the transfer discourage people from working, Bassin explains. He refers to a recent World Bank Study that has shown UCTs are in fact more likely to reduce than to increase the consumption of vice goods.
“Our recipients use the funds incredibly wisely. […] They tend to spend it on positive goods and what we saw in our original RCT was that after the transfer had ended our recipients saw their incomes rise by thirty-four percent and saw their assets increase by fifty-eight percent.”
Bassin highlights that this research can “help drive cash as a benchmark for decision-making in the aid sector.”
From unconditional cash transfers towards unconditional basic income
GiveDirectly is now planning a major implementation and evaluation of a universal basic income, to launch shortly in Kenya. Instead of giving money to the poor only, a program by which everyone receives cash will be implemented and evaluated.
“A ‘guaranteed basic income’ or ‘basic income guarantee’ is the idea of providing a minimum floor for all members of a community. It’s enough to meet basic needs, so it would be enough to live on without work or other forms of income. It’s guaranteed over the long term so that you can make decisions about major life plans with a minimum level of basic security. And it’s universal in that everyone gets it.”
(…)
“We’re going to be providing whole communities with a regular basic income for 12 years. And we have three of the world’s leading researchers on board to rigorously evaluate it: J-PAL co-founder Abhijit Banerjee, former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors Alan Krueger, and MIT professor Tavneet Suri. We’ve raised $22 million so far for the project and need to raise another $8m to run the full randomized controlled trial”
(…)
“Six thousand individuals in Kenya will receive a full basic income for twelve years and around 20,000 individuals will receive cash for a shorter period of time.”
Info and links
The full interview can be found here.
Related Basic Income News articles
US / KENYA: Charity GiveDirectly announces initial basic income pilot study
[Kate McFarland]
WORLD: The charity GiveDirectly will start a major basic income trial in Kenya
[Karl Widerquist]
Photo: Bus Ride Kenya-Uganda, 2015, CC 4.0 Jake Stimpson
Special thanks to Josh Martin and Genevieve Shanahan for reviewing this article
by Guest Contributor | Jun 25, 2016 | Opinion
Dear friends,
The basic income movement is picking up momentum at an enormous rate, but even with past and present trials, many are still looking for further evidence of what would happen if a guaranteed income were provided over the long-term.
So we’re planning to run what will likely be the largest long-term pilot of a basic income ever, and we have got some of the world’s leading economists on board to perform a rigorous evaluation.
You can learn more and join the pilot here.
For years, GiveDirectly has been providing short-term cash transfers to the extreme poor and seeing positive results — people do not stop working or drink it away, they invest in bettering their lives. If this basic income pilot shows similarly positive results, it could open the door to governments around the world beginning to adopt policies like basic income.
But we need to move fast — the debate over basic income is happening now and people are shooting down the idea based on speculation. If we are going to provide evidence in time to effect this debate, we need to launch the pilot this year. We will guarantee thousands of individuals living in extreme poverty in East Africa a basic income for over ten years, but we will have results on impact — do people invest more, seek more education, become more creative? — within a year or two.
But to launch this year all of us need to chip in a small amount — we can make it happen for less than the price of a cup of coffee per day:
Learn more about our project and, for just $1 per day, support the basic income of one person in poverty.
At best, we will break through the impasse of the basic income debate with evidence that shapes our economic futures; and at worst, we will provide life-changing aid to some of the poorest people on the planet.
We are teaming up with leading researcher Abhijit Banerjee from MIT and have calculated that we can run and study this pilot for $30 million, and we are willing to match the first $10 million donated. If just 5,000 people commit $1/day by this summer, we can make it happen.
Join us: for just $1 per day, support the basic income of one person in poverty.
This is the moment to launch this potentially historic pilot. Be a part and join now.
Sincerely,
Ian Bassin
At the home of Caroline Awino Odhiambo in Koga village on 22 October 2014. With the cash transfer from Give Directly, Caroline bought a cow, a sewing machine, put metal sheets on her roof, and paid school fees for two children in primary school. Caroline and her family in front of their house
At the home of Beatrice Achieng in Nduru Upper village. She used the cash transfer from Give Directly to dig a 30-foot borehole that now supplies her family with fresh water. She also build the foundation for a new house on her compound. Beatrice fetches water at the borehole.
At the home of recipient Rispa Atieno Okoyo in Koga village on 22 October 2014. Rispa used the cash to build this goat pen, she bought 2 cows, and planted maize and beans. Rispa with her children in front of their house.
At the home of recipient Gabriel Otieno Awoche in Koga village on 22 October 2014. Gabriel built a house and chicken coop with the cash. He also bought woodworking tools for his furniture workshop. Gabriel with his wife Lucy Adhiambo and their daughter Charlotte, 3. They also have another daughter, Mariam, age 1 1/2.
