Social Sustainability
Unconditional Cash Transfer
Definition
An unconditional cash transfer is a regular payment to poor or vulnerable households with no behavioural conditions attached (contrast conditional transfers tied to school attendance or health visits). A large evaluation record — from Kenya's GiveDirectly experiments to national programmes — shows UCTs improve food security, assets, schooling and mental health without the predicted misuse, at low administration cost; they are now a benchmark instrument in social protection and humanitarian response.
References
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This reference provides supporting context for how “Unconditional Cash Transfer” is defined and used.
Overview
How it is used
The instrument structures social safety nets, humanitarian cash programming, basic income pilots, and adaptive social protection for climate shocks.
Why it matters
Unconditional cash is social protection's control experiment that won — the simplest technology poverty policy has found.