Documenting the Qualitative and Quantitative Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on traditional solidarity, community sharing and reciprocity mechanisms in Eastern and Southern Africa

A good number of studies conducted in the region have also collected qualitative as well as quantitative data on the effects of social cash transfers on community level reciprocity and sharing mechanisms, such as the exchange of food, cash assistance, labour or inputs through family and social networks within the community. Contrary to a possible prior hypotheses the evidence does not seem to support the case for public social transfers to crowd out private transfers. Instead results from some countries seem to suggest that cash transfer may enable beneficiaries to more actively engage in community reciprocity arrangement from which they were otherwise excluded. To date little effort has been put in documenting country findings in a cross-country comparative perspective and drawing some common lessons. The call for papers comes to respond to this gap.