Kenya experience challenges the myth that money changes people

There is a proverb according to which man should not be given fish, but taught to fish. To prove the veracity of popular belief, the non-profit charity GiveDirectly decided to do an experiment: giving $22 a month for 12 years to all poor people in countries like Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The results surprised even the organizers themselves.

There are those who believe that when a person receives a cash benefit, he stops working and spends everything on superfluous things and vices.

But the awesome.club shows what really happened in one of Kenya’s villages.

Unlike unemployment insurance, Kenyans get the money under any circumstances. Even if they get a formal job, the benefit will be added to their salary. It is believed that people do not consider it convenient to look for an unstable job that pays little, losing a small but fixed income, considering that the payment of subsidies does not stimulate the search for work. The experiment is funded by ordinary citizens through the GiveDirectly website – anyone can log on to the page and donate.

The idea is not new. A similar experiment was carried out in 1968 by US President Richard Nixon, and in the 1970s in Canada. The experiments gave a positive result, but the basic income principle ended up not being implemented.

Esther, Victor and their newborn, Viani

Over several months, a total amount of one thousand dollars was transferred to their account without any conditions being required – the amount is equivalent to the sum of the transfers. They used the first $50 to pay for Esther’s care at the local hospital. Without that money, the woman would have had to give birth at home, something dangerous in rural Kenya. It was thus, by the way, that they lost their first child, who died shortly after birth.

With the rest of the money, they bought building materials for a new house. The previous year, the property where they lived had been destroyed in a fire. Finally, with what was left, Victor paid off a debt that had been keeping him awake for 3 years.

Grace, 22 years old, farmer

“With the first part of the money, I bought two bags of rice and a goat. The second part was used to rent 4 acres of land and invest in the rice plantation. With the third transfer, I bought two cows to protect us in emergency situations.

In addition, I will pay the school fees for the orphans in my care.
One of them will be 8 next year, and will start school. Finally, I would like to enlarge my house: the children are growing and we need a more spacious home.”

Washington, 46, self-employed

“Today, I have a better quality of life. I no longer need to mow the lawn whenever I need to fix the roof. Now, I have a comfortable sofa at home and I can receive visitors. The biggest difficulties I currently have are the high prices of basic products and the lack of of job vacancies”.

Lidia, 20 years old, self-employed

“I plan to buy building materials, wood and nails to renovate our house, and also pay a bricklayer. We currently live in a one-room house. I paid off a loan debt, bought bread for my family, household items with which to I spent a lot of time dreaming, and also some furniture. Before, we only had plastic chairs.”

George, 41, farmer

“I intend to expand my rice field and buy two oxen to plow the fields. I will buy metal plates to build a house, as before we lived in an old house, with a thatched roof and full of leaks – editor’s note: a damp thatched roof is an ideal environment for mosquitoes to breed, increasing the risk of spreading malaria, while a metal roof allows rainwater to be collected.

And finally, we paid my wife’s dowry, as tradition demands, and we had the chance to make our relationship official. Now, our parents approve of our marriage.”

Fenny, self-employed

“I would like to use part of the money to build a new house, as mine is in terrible condition. Then I would like to have electricity: we spend a lot of money on fuel. And finally, I need to buy household items.”

serfina, fisherwoman

“Right now I’m having problems with my business. I need to withdraw part of the money for internal needs, and as my business is down, I can’t expand it as I would like.

I am thinking of investing part of the income in school education for children. With the other part, I intend to buy some cattle to guarantee the milk, and apply the rest to my fish shop.”

Nancy, 22, small entrepreneur

“The hardest time in my life was when I didn’t have the money to pay for my son’s treatment at the hospital, and the boy died.

With the first transfer, I will pay school bills, buy a sheep and grow my business. With the second I’ll cover the walls with plaster to keep the house from getting so dusty, and with the rest I’ll build a kitchen. And we decided that with the third one, we will pay my dowry, as we have been together for 3 years and have never been able to respect tradition.”

Sarah, 27 years old, farmer

“I spent the transfer on the purchase of furniture, a mattress and also iron blades and nails, in addition to having paid the bricklayers who worked on the house. Something that makes me proud: I know how to grow and sell vegetables”.

The money helped these young women not to need have sex with older men to survive. Without that money, they simply couldn’t afford to make a safe choice.

Studies have revealed that, in Ecuador, child labor has dropped by almost 80% among people receiving the benefit. In Malawi (also in Africa), when teenagers started to receive aid, the number of HIV infections among them dropped by up to 50%.

Caroline Teti, field manager for GiveDirectly, works almost daily with local residents, ensuring that the experiment runs smoothly. Over time, a few more villages in Kenya and Uganda were included in the program. So far, Caroline has followed few people who have misappropriated the money.

Krispo, a 40-year-old worker, said that in addition to basic necessities, he spent money on gambling and recording a CD of his music. However, the money invested in the CD was stolen by his recording partner, who disappeared when it came time to sell the copies. “I think I’ll be more careful on my next project,” he said.

As a way of discouraging the misuse of funds, GiveDirectly has always made it clear to its beneficiaries what the purpose of the initiative is. “This money is to improve the lives of your children” or “This aid should be applied to your business” are the messages that are usually accompanied by donations. Thus, beneficiaries are much more likely to spend the income wisely. The simple and old method of suggestion still holds.

Generally speaking, as incomes increase, people buy the same products as before, only in larger quantities. World Bank researchers David Evans and Anna Popova, who wrote a report on the initiative, reported that alcohol and cigarettes are not among those items. On the contrary, people stop drinking and using other drugs, which served as an escape from the desperate situation.

THE confidence in the future makes recipients manage money more conscientiously. When a person doesn’t have to fear for his own future and that of his children, he feels more motivated to undertake and accepts more temporary jobs that require the application of creativity.

In 2017, Finland started a similar experience at the national level: around 2,000 people started to receive the amount of 560 euros per month between 2017 and 2018. The objective of the experiment is stimulate work population and reduce economic stress.

Minimum income practically did not affect the level of employment: some found work, while others began to invest their time in other socially significant activities. Young people who previously had to work to earn a living spent most of their money on education.