Impact of the Kenya Cash Transfer for Orphans & Vulnerable Children on Early Pregnancy & Marriage of Adolescent Girls

There is promising evidence that poverty-targeted cash transfer programs can have positive impacts on adolescent transitions to adulthood in resource poor settings, however existing research is typically from small scale programs in diverse geographic and cultural settings. 

We provide estimates of the impact of a national unconditional cash transfer program, the Kenya Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, on pregnancy and early marriage among females aged 12 to 24, four years after program initiation. The evaluation was designed as a clustered randomized controlled trial and ran from 2007 to 2011, capitalizing on the existence of a control group, which was delayed entry to the program due to budget constraints. 

Findings indicate that, among 1549 females included in the study, while the program reduced the likelihood of pregnancy by five percentage points, there was no significant impact on likelihood of early marriage. Program impacts on pregnancy appear to work through increasing the enrollment of young women in school, financial stability of the household and delayed age at first sex. 

The Kenyan program is similar in design to most other major national cash transfer programs in Eastern and Southern Africa, suggesting a degree of generalizability of the results reported here. Although the objective of the program is primarily poverty alleviation, it appears to have an important impact on facilitating the successful transition of adolescent girls into adulthood.

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By: Handa S1, Peterman A2, Huang C3, Halpern C4, Pettifor A5, Thirumurthy H6.

• 1Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA; UNICEF Office of Research Innocenti, Piazza SS. Annunziata 12, 50122 Florence, Italy.
• 2UNICEF Office of Research Innocenti, Piazza SS. Annunziata 12, 50122 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: apeterman@unicef.org.
• 3Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
• 4Department of Materal and Child Health, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, USA.
• 5Department of Epidemiology, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, USA.
• 6Department of Health Policy and Management, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, USA. 

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