Independent Evaluation of Oxfam GB Zambia’s Emergency Cash-Transfer Programme

Zambia experienced poor rainfall during the 2004/5 production season, which significantly reduced both cereal and non-cereal yields. In an effort to determine the levels of vulnerability, the government-led Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) assessment in March 2005 identified 1,232,661 food-insecure people in need of relief assistance. In response to the VAC assessment, DFID funded Oxfam GB with £1,000,000 to undertake a cash transfer programme in Mongu and Kaoma districts. Oxfam proposed to provide unconditional cash transfers of 90,000 Zambian kwacha per household per month to vulnerable households in the two districts for a period of five months. The programme aimed to assist households that were not meeting over 50% of their food needs. In the end, implementation constraints meant that Oxfam was only able to provide households with four monthly cash transfers between November and March. Initially, transfers were provided to 10,500 households in November and December, rising to 13,500 in January and February/ March.