Cash-for-work in urban setting: a Guinean experience

Action Against Hunger-Spain (ACF-E) is
implementing a project to support low-income
populations in urban areas of Guinea, funded by
the European Union. One of the proposed
activities is the organization of cash-for-work with
a focus on sanitation and more specifically solid
waste collection. The project specific objective is
to reduce food and economic vulnerabilities of the
poorest community groups of Conakry. Activities
are organized in cycles of two to three months at
time periods subject to inflation risk (school year,
end-of-year festivities, Ramadan, lean season).
ACF-E expect the monthly household income
to increase by 15% and the beneficiaries’ food
consumption improved. The choice of a cash
transfer is justified by the food supply mode for
the population in the town of Matoto (urban
district of intervention selected for its high
population density and representing a third of the
inhabitants of the capital Conakry) where
purchase is the main source of food for 94.8% of
households. Only 1.3% of the population within
this area are farmers. Markets are well supplied
and functional and it is due to a lack of financial
resources that the most vulnerable populations
have difficulty accessing food. Finally, the cash
transfer allows the beneficiaries to identify and
fulfil their basic needs while at the same time
preserving their dignity.