Art Appraisal Blog

This case study by the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP) examines Togo’s Novissi program, focusing on the collaborative role of the non-profit GiveDirectly. It includes discussions of remote targeting and data responsibility.

In March 2020, a team of researchers began providing technical assistance to the Government of Togo to help guide their humanitarian response to the COVID-19 crisis. This report provides a short, non-technical summary of those efforts through the year 2020.

GovInsider article on the Novissi program, based on an interview with Cina Lawson, Togo’s Minister of Digital Economy and Digital Transformation.

In April 2020, Togo launched Novissi, a fully digital unconditional cash transfer program to assist informal workers whose livelihoods were upended by the coronavirus pandemic. This case study details the program’s design process and implementation, highlighting lessons learned on the use of mobile money to support fully digital social assistance.

Colombia's Ingreso Solidario COVID-19 cash transfer program increased eligible households’ probability of maintaining an income source during the pandemic and did not disincentivize labor market participation.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused countries throughout the world to adapt their social protection systems to a radically new environment. This Maintains report uses literature reviews and informant interviews to document the social protection response in Kenya, evaluating it in terms of its adequacy, coverage, and comprehensiveness. As of its writing, the government of Kenya was expected to deliver social protection to over 700,000 households as part of...

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the delivery of social protection payments, while at the same time necessitating their use at unprecedented scale. Lowe, McCord, and Beazley analyze optimal approaches to distributing and expanding G2P transfers in 2020 by combining literature review with case studies of Nigeria, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Togo. Their findings highlight the importance of comprehensive ID systems, digital and financial inclusion, existing systems, and...

The COVID-19 lockdown provides a test of whether these investments in digital infrastructure would pay off and help the government deliver relief quickly, efficiently and equitably.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that countries which have disability identification mechanisms and registries already in place have been in a better position to provide fast relief and expand shock responsive support to persons with disabilities and their families.

During the pandemic, Duong Thi Thuy, a mobile money agent in the Quang Ninh province, improvised her business to help her community follow the guidelines on social distancing and government norms. This is her story about the adoption of DFS and how it changed her life.