Community-basedConditional Cash Transfer Pilot
Terms of Reference
OPERATIONAL MODALITIESOF MOBILE PHONE TRANSFER
IN THE CONTEXT OF THETASAF CB-CCT PILOT
1.Description of CCT Pilot
Theobjectives of the Community-based Conditional Cash Transfer Pilotbeing implemented by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) are totest how a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program could beimplemented through a social fund using a community-drivendevelopment (CDD) approach. This CCT program, similar to other CCTprograms, will provide grants to poor and vulnerable householdscontingent upon specific household actions: keeping children enrolledin and attending school and taking them to health centers on aregular basis. This CCT also stipulates that elderly persons visithealth centers regularly, albeit less frequently than the youngchildren. This is both the first time that a social fund agency isbeing used to implement a CCT program in Africa and the first timethat a CCT program is being delivered using a CDD approach. Specificobjectives of the pilot are to:
(a) Develop operational modalities for the community-driven deliveryof a CCT program through a social fund operation; and
(b) Test the effectiveness of the community-based CCT model andensure that lessons from the pilot inform government policy onsupport to vulnerable families.
The project uses randomized assignmentof the program at the village level, ultimately relying on comparingthe changes in outcomes of beneficiary households in 40 randomlyselected treatment villages over time to those of households thatwould be beneficiaries in 40 control villages.
2. Payments and mobile phones
The current system of payingbeneficiaries consists of the following process. Funds aretransferred from TASAF to the Local Government Authorities, who thentransfer funds to the bank accounts registered to each village'sCommunity Management Committee (CMC). CMCs travel to the nearestbank branch; often in the district capital and withdraw funds to payout two months worth of conditional cash transfers, travel back withthose funds to the village, and disburse funds to the villages at acentral location on a designated day. If beneficiaries do notcollect their funds, the CMC holds onto the funds for X days, afterwhich the funds are returned to the CMC bank account until the nextround of payments, two months later.
The use of mobile phone financialtransfers has recently been initiated in Tanzania and has proven verysuccessful in other countries (including Kenya). Various companies(including Vodacom and Zain, among others) have initiated thisprocess. Mobile phone transfers permit at least two potentialalternatives: transfers directly to participants and transfers to theCMCs.
Mobile phone transfers potentiallyalleviate two significant problems: (1) the potential for leakage offunds between the donor and the vulnerable households, and (2) theadministrative burden placed on communities and local governmentauthorities. First, mobile phones transfers allow funds to godirectly from the donor to the recipient, eliminating severalintermediate steps and opportunities for funds to disappear. Second,these direct transfers dramatically lessen the burden on communitycommittees to transfer significant funds from the nearest bank to thecommunity at regular intervals. (By contrast, individuals can getcash from the mobile phone transfer at small shops in the community.)
3. Tasks
The objective of the consultant wouldto develop a detailed implementation plan for how mobile phonetransfers could be implemented in a small set of CB-CCT programvillages (e.g., 5 villages). Such a detailed plan would include (butmay not be limited to) the following:
- Identify which companies with the potential for mobile phone transfers have sufficient coverage in terms of cash-disbursing agents to be workable in any of our program villages
- Are there agents in any of our program villages?
- Are there agents in nearby villages?
- How many service providers have such access potential?
- Are there agents in any of our program villages?
- Examine the technology requirements of disbursing funds to individual beneficiares
- What percentage of beneficiaries are likely to already have phones?
- What are the options and potential cost of providing phones to beneficiaries without phones?
- Are there cost-effective alternatives, such as providing a SIM card to beneficiaries that could be used at the agent's office?
- What percentage of beneficiaries are likely to already have phones?
- Calculate the costs of implementing mobile phone transfers in 5 villages, including both the additional costs associated with setting up such a system and the cost reductions that may be incurred as result of reduced administrative work (e.g., transport for CMC members)
The deliverable, a detailedimplementation plan, will include (a) various options in how mobilephone transfers could be integrating in the CB-CCT program, (b) arecommendation of which option is the most beneficial and practicalbased on an explicit exploring of the benefits and limitations of thevarious options, (c) a practical step-by-step plan for how TASAFcould implement said option in a subset of program villages.
4. Supervision
The consultant will report to WorldBank task team leader Samantha de Silva and will copy team membersDavid Evans and Myrtle Diachok on correspondence. The consultantwill work closely Amadeus Kamagenge of the TASAF leadership team inorder to identify the most plausible options for implementation. Theresults deliverable will be delivered to both TASAF and the WorldBank.
5. Timeline
The consultancy is expected to lastapproximately 50 working days.
6. Qualifications of the consultant
An appropriate consultant would havethe following qualifications
- Experience with and knowledge of relevant information technology
- Demonstrated experience with development implementation
- Masters Degree or higher in a related analytical field
Contact Persons (please writeto both):
- Krishna Pidatala – kpidatala@worldbank.org
- Kaoru Kimura – kkimura@worldbank.org
