Propensity score-matched study reveals cash transfers increased multidimensional poverty by 7% in refugee children, suggesting standalone aid is insufficient without complementary programs.
Cash transfers have increasingly become a popular method for delivering humanitarian assistance, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is limited evidence on the impact of cash transfers on multi-dimensional poverty among refugee children. We combine the Alkire–Foster approach to measuring multidimensional poverty with Propensity Score Matching to estimate the impact of a labeled cash transfer on multidimensional poverty among school-aged refugee children in Uganda’s Kyaka II refugee settlement. We found that the cash transfer had a statistically significant positive effect on multidimensional poverty of 7%. We therefore argue that cash transfers on their own are not effective in combating multi-dimensional child poverty among refugees. Complementary interventions might therefore be required to make the most of the cash transfers.
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Kisaame et al. (2026) studied this question.
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