Impact Evaluation of the Nigeria National Social Safety Nets Program Livelihood Pilot

The study will examine the relative impacts of three packages delivered to poor and vulnerable households: 1) a basic cash transfer and savings group formation training package; 2) a human capital top-up package; and 3) a livelihoods package.

1. Basic package: Beneficiary households receive a regular cash transfer of NGN 5000 per month (equivalent to USD 10, approximately 15 per cent of the national per capita poverty line). The household’s primary caregiver (typically a woman) receives these payments, typically every two months. In addition, the primary caregiver is required to participate in savings group formation training (a weekly 2-hour session over 12 weeks). This basic transfer is designed to provide a minimum safety net to households through a reliable payment that allows them to smooth consumption, reduce food security, and address economic shocks.

2. Human capital top-up package: Beneficiary households will be eligible for an additional transfer of NGN 5000 per month if they satisfy a set of specified conditions, called “co-responsibilities”, linked to the use of public services. Beneficiaries will also attend behavioral change training before they are asked to comply with using certain basic services (in the areas of education, health, nutrition, or environment). The primary caregiver will again receive these payments, as a top up to regular transfers; however, the co-responsibility member required to participate in the outlined activities can differ from the primary caregiver. Individual states will determine co-responsibilities based on their development priorities and available public services. The co-responsibilities are designed to impose the minimum conditions possible, to simplify implementation and monitoring costs for states.

3. Livelihoods package: Beneficiary households in pilot areas will be eligible for a complementary livelihoods package targeted at a “productive member” of the household. The livelihoods package is a lump sum transfer of cash along with life skills and business training, and regular mentoring and coaching. This package will be targeted to an individual household member.

2021-06-14

2022-12-31

1. Consumption
2. Food security
3. Women’s economic empowerment (control of resources, participation in economic activities)

1. Employment (hours worked, sector, earnings)
2. Assets (livestock, productive assets)
3. Household enterprises
4. Intimate partner violence
5. Nutrition, hygiene, education, child welfare
6. Mental health

The experimental sample will consist entirely of NASSP beneficiaries, so it will not include a pure control group but will allow us to estimate the relative impacts of three alternative social support packages. The evaluation uses an additive design. We randomized at the community level and stratified at the level of operational territory (a group of communities). We used a public lottery to assign sample communities into the three treatment arms. The public lotteries were conducted in all the 12 local government areas across the six states where the study is being carried out. The selection of the six states represents geographical spread across the country, with one state selected from each of the six geopolitical zones of the country and two local government areas selected from each state.

Not available

Public lottery

The treatment packages are randomized at the community level and all benefiting households of the program in the evaluation communities receive the assigned package. Randomization was stratified by operational territory (a group of communities).

Yes

480 communities

8,000 households

146 communities will receive the basic package, 187 communities will receive the basic and human capital top up, and 147 communities will receive the full package (Basic + Human capital + Livelihood)