The Zomba Cash Transfer Program provides monetary incentives, in the form of school fees and cash transfers, to schoolgirls and recent dropouts on the condition that they stay in or return to school. The intervention was designed as a randomized control trial to assess its effectiveness, and evaluations showed that these transfers bore significant results. For program beneficiaries who had been out of school, the probability of getting married declined by 40% and the probability of becoming pregnant declined 30%. The onset of sexual activity was 38% lower among all program beneficiaries than among their peers. This program shows that, with the right combination of incentives, cash transfers can be a powerful tool not only to keep girls in school, but to also positively impact their sexual and reproductive health.
News & Updates
