As of today, our international response to COVID-19 is live: you can give directly to households living in extreme poverty in the hardest-hit communities overseas. More information on this below. We are deeply concerned for these families. As the pandemic hits and governments impose lockdowns to try to limit its spread, many will suddenly be […]
Blog - Operations
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Operations
Our emergency cash response for COVID-19
March 19, 2020 Update: We have officially announced the launch of our program; you can find more details here. On March 18, 2020, we shared an update on GiveDirectly’s response to COVID-19 with our mailing list, seen below. If you’d like to stay informed as we announce further program details, sign up for our mailing […]
Operations
[Video] Cashout day in the Kiryandongo refugee settlement
![[Video] Cashout day in the Kiryandongo refugee settlement](https://34gcjd1qiymi2mbln82wcbdo-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cashout-in-Kiryandongo-Resized.png)
GiveDirectly recently launched a $19M project saturating an entire refugee settlement with cash transfers. 10,000 refugee households and 5,000 host community households will receive transfers. Our team has been testing facilitated cashout events in the settlement, offering a central, easy-to-reach withdrawal location for recipients. We collected video footage on our second-ever cashout day in the settlement.
Operations
A Bizarre Baraza: Why One Village Refused Funds — Then Changed Its Mind
Recently, a village of about 70 households in Malawi was selected to receive GiveDirectly transfers. The village first refused funds — then changed its mind. Here’s what happened.
Operations
Behind the scenes at a GiveDirectly call center
Meet Sithembile Nyondo, who works in the GiveDirectly call center in Malawi fielding hotline calls from recipients. Every successful customer-facing company has mechanisms for ensuring quality service. We think recipients of aid deserve the same and have designed our call center processes accordingly.
Operations
How facial identification technology could help our field ops
We’re not interested in tech for the sake of tech. So, there were plenty of skeptics on the team when the possibility of integrating facial identification into our operations came up. Good for iPhones? Yes. Necessary for enrolling recipients in our program? Not obvious. The jury is still out on whether we’ll pursue it at […]
Operations
Solving the last mile payment challenge in Liberia
Think of the longest ATM line you’ve seen in the US…and multiply it by 80. On the World Bank index of ATMs per 100,000 people, Liberia comes in at fewer than 2 (by comparison, the US has 174). Not surprisingly, it’s the kind of place where delivering cash as an aid intervention is often deemed […]
Operations
Getting our bearings in Malawi
How big are villages in Malawi? The answer, our team has been learning, is not entirely straightforward. But it matters, for two key reasons: First, the randomized control trial we are running in partnership with USAID requires us to achieve a certain sample size (i.e. number of villages), within a budget constraint. If villages are […]
Operations
Large, unconditional cash to refugees: phase 1, complete!
If you’re interested in supporting our work with refugees, you can do so here. If you’re a long-term refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo now living in Uganda, what is your biggest priority? It’s possible you have a skill-set that you could use to start a business but lack the capital. You might need […]
Operations
GiveDirectly launches in the Democratic Republic of Congo
You may have read our recent announcement that operations are afoot in Liberia. We’re excited to announce that we’ll be expanding our program to a fifth country: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As with Liberia, we’re learning that for each new launch, some of our standard playbook carries over (e.g. Day 1: figure out […]
