MSC and the Center for Global Development (CGD) assessed Bangladesh’s Primary Education Stipends Program (PESP), a gender-centric cash transfer program to improve primary school attendance rates. Over the years, benefit delivery of PESP evolved from cash disbursement to digital stipend transfers. Key evidence from our assessment shows women prefer digital transfers to cash-in-hand. Our blog shares evidence from the study using the “Design, Direct, and Digitize” (D3) framework to make a case for women beneficiaries as better contenders for G2P programs. Our blog looks beyond the impact of PESP on program outcomes—and highlights the socioeconomic implications of mobile money on women and the role PESP plays in gender equity and inclusion.

In 2001, Bangladesh launched a Primary Education Stipend Program (PESP) that provides a conditional cash transfer (CCT) to beneficiary mothers. The cash transfer depends on the student maintaining a specific attendance rate and grades at the school. MSC conducted a mixed-method research to ascertain the PESP program’s effectiveness in achieving its objectives. We examined if CCTs can help attain better educational outcomes in terms of increased attendance and grades with lower dropout rates. It simultaneously examines similar studies undertaken elsewhere to support the hypothesis.

The PMUY scheme has delivered on its promise by providing more than 80 million connections since its launch. However, the scheme needs a budgetary push to expand LPG usage amongst the targeted customers. In collaboration with the State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM), MSC conducted a pilot with self-help groups (SHGs) in Madhya Pradesh. The pilot suggests that credit facility to avail loans for LPG canisters and higher subsidies to Ujjwala customers will go a long way to enhance LPG usage.

MSC has devised a framework that stakeholders can use to design and evaluate social protection programs through a user centric-lens. The framework facilitates a comparison of different DBT programs while offering a standard through which lessons, innovations, and best practices can be explored by policy makers and program implementers.

India responded to the COVID-19 crisis by announcing several relief measures under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). As part of PMGKY, 80 million poor women enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), received cash transfers in their bank accounts to purchase liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This paper assess the program’s efficacy and the experience of beneficiaries in receiving advance transfers into their bank accounts and purchasing LPG refills during and after the lockdown.

As part of the relief measures announced by the Indian government to combat the COVID-19 crisis, 80 million poor women received cash transfers to purchase liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This paper analyzes the program’s performance and the experience of beneficiaries while purchasing LPG refills from the money disbursed during and after the lockdown.

The World Bank estimates that around a billion people across the globe lack a “legal identity.” The gender gap in terms of people’s access to official IDs is considerable in low-income countries, where one in two women lack any form of official ID. This limits financial, social, and political participation for women.

One in two women in low-income countries lack official identification documents, which limits their financial, social, and political participation. This report explores the design and lifecycle of ID systems from gender and behavioral lenses and proposes a framework to make them more gender-sensitive.