KIGALI, RWANDA – Both a workforce readiness/skills training and unconditional cash transfer program had positive short-term and long-term effects on various outcomes, and approximately half of the benefits observed after 18 months of implementation were still present more than three years later, according to a new study led by researchers from Georgetown University and University of California, San Diego.

Finding effective measures to integrate young people into productive adult life is crucial, especially given Africa’s growing youth population. However, the evidence surrounding various policy alternatives is mixed, and there is no clarity on the long-term impact and cost-effectiveness of the various alternatives.

To address some of these challenges, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the non-profit Education Development Centre, Inc. (EDC) implemented a workforce readiness and skills training called Huguka Dukore / Akazi Kanoze.

The Huguka Dukore program was a five-year project (2017- 2021) aiming to provide 40,000 vulnerable youth with employability skills in 19 (of 30 total) districts nationwide.

The research team partnered with GiveDirectly, a US-based non-profit that specialises in sending mobile money directly to the mobile phones of beneficiary households to conduct an impact assessment that measured not only the impact of the Huguka Dukore, but also how it compares to just giving people cash. Researchers measured both the short-term (18 months) and long-term (3.5 years) effects of the program.

Study participants included poor, underemployed youth targeted by the Huguka Dukore program, who expressed willingness to enrol in that training program, and who met the technical poverty criteria to be eligible for Give Directly funding. Public lotteries were used to randomly assign the youth into four groups, receiving either: 1) the Huguka Dakore program; 2) cash transfers, 3) cash transfers and Huguka Dakore, or 4) neither program at the time of the study.

Both the Huguka Dukore program and the unconditional cash transfer had positive short term and long-term effects on various outcomes. However, approximately half of the benefits observed after 18 months of the implementation of the various interventions faded three years later.

Due to the fading impacts, it is impossible to determine whether the Huguka Dukore program was better than cash transfers in the long run. However, the evidence shows that cash had greater benefits in the short term, especially in terms of income, consumption, and subjective well-being.