Impact of Cash Transfers on Household Food Security: Evidence from Families with Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Kenya

Abstract

ABSTRACT In response to the devastation of the 1990s and early 2000s AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya introduced the Cash Transfers for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) program. The program aimed to encourage the fostering and retaining of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) within communities and enhance their human capital development. This study uses cluster-randomized longitudinal trial data to examine the program’s household food security impact, using three measures of the accessibility dimension of food security: per adult equivalent food consumption, household food group shares, and the household dietary diversity score (HDDS). After performing difference-in-differences analysis, we find that the transfers had a positive and highly significant impact on HDDS but a statistically insignificant impact on per adult equivalent food consumption. The results are robust to alternative propensity-score-matched specifications. We further observe hidden food source substitution as transfers provided households with greater freedom of food choices from their own purchases and less reliance on food gifts or aid, thereby improving dietary diversity while aggregate food consumption remained largely unchanged. Our findings provide fresh insights to relevant stakeholders such as government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved with social action, particularly for OVCs, and food security researchers.