Evaluation of the Child Grants Programme (CGP) in Lesotho (2014–2022)

The CGP is an unconditional cash transfer programme implemented by MoSD and targets poor and vulnerable households that have at least one child between the age of zero and 17 years. The programme provides regular quarterly cash transfers of between Lesotho Loti (LSL) 360 and LSL 750, indexed by the number of children in the household. The primary objective of the CGP is to improve the living standards of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) to reduce malnutrition, improve health status and increase school enrolment by supplementing household income.

The CGP started in 2009 as a donor-financed pilot programme, reaching about 2,000 households. In the last 13 years the programme has expanded its coverage significantly, benefitting nearly 50,000 households in 2022. The last evaluation of the programme was conducted between 2011 and 2013 but since then the CGP has not been evaluated, highlighting the need for a follow-up evaluation to take stock of the programme’s evolution over the past nine years.