GiveDirectly is implementing a new program in the Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda with the potential to deliver enhanced and sustained impacts of cash transfers on refugees’ livelihoods. All cash-only and cash-plus program participants receive a cash transfer equivalent to about $1,000 USD. Additionally, cash-plus program participants receive complementary interventions that aim to empower them to make choices that increase the long-term household and community benefits of the cash they receive. These complementary interventions comprise three key components: (1) business development training, financial literacy training, and life skills training to enhance income-generating potential; (2) access to financial services through Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs); and (3) demand-driven apprenticeships in hairdressing, auto mechanics, or tailoring targeted to a subset of interested cash-plus participants.

Mathematica is conducting an RCT and qualitative study of the cash-only and cash-plus program to rigorously assess the impact of the cash-only and cash-plus interventions. Mathematica randomly assigned refugee households to one of three experimental groups:

1. Cash-plus treatment: Refugee households are provided with a cash transfer and an offer to participate in the complementary interventions.
2. Cash-only treatment: Refugee households are provided with a cash transfer only.
3. Control: Refugee households do not receive a cash transfer or an offer to participate in the complementary intervention during the study period (two years), but will receive a cash transfer of the same value at the end of the study.

Comparing the outcomes of refugee households in the treatment groups to those in the control group will quantify the causal impact of each program. Meanwhile, comparing outcomes between the two treatment groups will quantify the value added by the complementary intervention to the standard cash transfer. Additionally, the qualitative study enables us to understand the implementation of the cash transfer and complementary activities, including fidelity of implementation, challenges with or barriers to implementation, community dynamics, and any factors enabling or inhibiting uptake of complementary activities and operations of household enterprises to inform future programming.