In December 2011, after nearly a year in Zimbabwe, the CaLP closed its activities in the country.

The CaLP will continue to support capacity building and learning on the use of cash and vouchers in emergencies, through a new project that will begin in Q2 of 2012. 

In this new project, CaLP will continue to provide training, conduct research and document best practices on a global level.

Harare Cash Transfer Workshop 2011

CaLP, in partnership with the Cash Transfer Working Group, held a 2-day National Cash Transfer Workshop in Harare on 14^th to 15^th November 2011.

Speakers from Government, NGOs, and the private sector provided a varied program of presentations around the dual themes of the workshop: Determining the Value of Cash Transfers and Harmonising Governmental and Non-Governmental Cash-Based Responses.  The workshop also included the Zimbabwe launch of the CaLP / ODI Good Practice Guide.

Read more here and download the report and presentations.

Video: Smart cards in Karoi, Zimbabwe

Smart cards used for the first time in Zimbabwe cash transfers.

In 2011 two organisations have for the first time led the way in demonstrating the possibilities for technology-based approaches to cash delivery in Zimbabwe.  Save the Children and World Vision have adopted two contrasting smart card cash systems within the urban areas of Karoi and Bulawayo.

These two projects are providing important information about the country-specific aspects of technology-based cash delivery within Zimbabwe, and how the use of these types of approaches can be best adapted to best meet the needs of beneficiaries and increase outreach of access to financial services amongst the largely unbanked poor and very poor households in Zimbabwe.  The CaLP Coordinator in Zimbabwe is providing support to the collection and sharing of learning experiences as technological approaches to cash transfer delivery begin to take root in the country.  Read the full story here

Zimbabwe Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Program Is Rolled Out

The Government of Zimbabwe’s Department of Social Services is in the process of introducing a Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Programme to provide support to vulnerable, labour constrained extremely poor households , especially those containing Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) or Child Headed Households.  The project has a budget of $336 million managed through UNICEF, sourced partly from multiple donors and partly from the Government of Zimbabwe Treasury. 

After a pilot programme in Goromonzi in February 2011, the full programme roll out is now taking place and is expected to make its first cash disbursements in October 2011.  The program will assist 23,000 households in the first year, rising to 55,000 households within 3 years, with the objective of reducing poverty levels and improving poor households’ access to basic needs such as food, education and health.

Very poor labour constrained households will receive from $10 a month for a 1 member household, up to $25 for a 5 member household, with an average payment of $20.  Payments will be made bi-monthly.  In 2011 the programme will cover the 10 poorest districts in each of the country’s 10 provinces.  Targeted districts for the first year include: Makoni, Chivi, Mangwe, Rushinga, Kariba, Goromonzi, Umguza, Zvishavane, Harare Epworth, and Bulawayo Urban. Each subsequent year ten additional districts will be selected to give a total of 30 districts by 2013. The government has made a budgetary provision of US$4 million for 2011, complemented by a donor contribution of US$6 million.

Due to national problems of hyperinflation prior to dollarization, it is only since 2009 that there has been a significant growth in the use of cash transfers in Zimbabwe.  Since that period, a significant number of NGOs have been involved in piloting cash transfer schemes.

Most programs in Zimbabwe have, to date, involved hand to hand delivery of cash, due to limited outreach of the banking sector, and poor mobile phone and connectivity coverage in rural areas.  However other delivery mechanisms in use in 2010 / 11 included:

• Cash cards, linked to point-of-sale card readers
• Payments into bank accounts, building societies, and Post Office Savings Bank
• E-vouchers redeemable at private retail outlets (e.g. Spar, OK). In general, these retail outlets require at least a percentage of the transfer to be spent in the outlet.

Zimbabwe today can be viewed as having largely moved out of the emergency phase experienced in the recent past and into a process of early recovery.   Consequently, the majority of cash transfer programs operating in Zimbabwe are linked to and supported by other interventions aimed at promoting livelihood development and early recovery processes. In this context, the primary interest in cash based interventions in Zimbabwe is in relation to longer duration recovery orientated objectives to address chronic rather than acute situations. Emergency relief is now being replaced by wider developmental objectives in cash transfer programs.

Download an overview of cash transfers in Zimbabwe