Caroline Teti is GiveDirectly’s Director of Safeguarding and Recipient Advocacy. Listen to Caroline narrate her letter: As a woman born in the rural villages of western Kenya, I watched mothers toiling to make life livable for their children, forgoing the basics to give us access to the little they could. It was not uncommon for […]
Blog -
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Opinions
Cash transfers help more than the individual
The June 14 Washington Post essay by Anton Jäger and Daniel Zamora Varga, “The problem with universal basic income programs,” mischaracterized the impact and intention of direct cash transfers, arguing they “forestall systemic or structural changes.” The authors employed a causal fallacy in claiming the spread of cash programs such as universal basic income are […]
Recipients, Research
Evidence on how cash transfers empower women in poverty
Donations to GiveDirectly put power in the hands of recipients, 62% of whom are women.1 On International Women’s Day, hear directly from women and girls in poverty in Malawi about the unique ways that direct cash empowers them: This impact is more than anecdotal; research finds that cash aid lets women improve their lives in […]
Recipients
How receiving a basic income affects elderly women
Since October 2016, GiveDirectly has been sending monthly cash transfers to 95 adult residents in a remote village in Kenya. This village is the pilot site for our broader universal basic income initiative. “Remote” is often a code word for “poor.” But other vulnerabilities in age, gender and marital status contribute as much, if not […]
Operations
Living with a basic income: aspirations (part 3/3)
Part 3 of a 3-part series on lessons we’ve drawn from observing the Universal Basic Income Pilot village over the past year. (Parts 1, 2) For an update on our UBI program please see our UBI study page. “Aspirations” are a hot topic among poverty researchers these days. Following suggestive evidence from studies like this […]
Operations
Living with a basic income: work (part 2/3)
Part 2 of a 3-part series on lessons we’ve drawn from observing the Universal Basic Income Pilot village over the past year. (Part 1) Perhaps the most controversial question about basic income is how it will affect the way people spend their time. Proponents think it will free them up to take more risk – […]
Operations
Living with a basic income: family relationships (part 1/3)
Part 1 of a 3-part series on lessons we’ve drawn from observing the Universal Basic Income Pilot village over the past year. Phoebe is one of the first 100 people in history to live in a community where everyone receives a guaranteed, long-term basic income. GiveDirectly’s basic income initiative launched in her village in October […]