Hi John,

I recently spoke to a number of our IPA-Kenya colleagues and MIT Professor Tavneet Suri about results from Kenya that showed the effects of Universal Basic Income cash transfers during COVID-19. “It’s important to remember that in lots of farming areas, income is always seasonal,” Professor Suri told me. “As it happens, the COVID restrictions hit during the lean season, and we were concerned hunger may increase more than usual.”

It wasn’t just during Kenya’s lean season. Data from IPA’s RECOVR survey, which we rolled out in nine countries, showed that incomes and food security have plummeted across all the countries we surveyed: between 25 to 50 percent of households surveyed said they had to limit meal portions.

In Kenya, a group of people who were getting cash transfers weren’t hit as badly. “They’d started these businesses and were taking risks, and when these hard times hit—even when their income took a hit—they seemed better buffered from hunger,” Suri said.

The cascading crises set off by COVID are putting communities to the test as never before around the world. We're working to help decision-makers get the data they need to quickly get the most effective help to affected families. But we need your support to leverage evidence on what works to prevent hunger, income losses, and long-term impacts on child health and development from this crisis.

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