The Impact of Child Grant Programme (CGP) on vulnerable households in Kanana Community Council in Berea, Lesotho

Abstract

The provision of child grant programme is argued to be the most beneficial for reducing child poverty in many vulnerable households in Lesotho. The aim of this research was to explore the impact of Child Grant Programme (CGP) on vulnerable households in Kanana Community Council in Berea District, Lesotho. The study population was 761 people- this was the number of beneficiaries of CGP in Kanana Community Council, Berea Lesotho. The objectives that guided the study were to assess psychological impacts of Child Grant Programme in children in Kanana Community Council, to establish social impacts of child grant on households in Kanana Community Council, to examine the economic impacts of Child Grant Programme on households and to establish possible interventions for making Child Grant Programme functional. The mixed method research approach was used entailing qualitative and quantitative approaches. The sampling techniques which were used were purposive sampling for qualitative aspects and random sampling for quantitative aspects. Data was collected using in-depth interviews using focus groups from five(5) children, focus groups of five(5) parents and three(3) key informants for qualitative purposes and a survey method which used questionnaire from 70 respondents for quantitative purposes. The main findings of the study showed that there were negative psychological impacts of child grant; this has been confirmed by the fact that the findings showed that child grant brings financial stress for many recipients as they failed to prioritise how to use their funds. Additionally the study also revealed that some children want to control the use of funds as it’s written in their names, while some guardians treat children harshly in the absence of the money.The study findings revealed that there were both positive and negative social impacts of CGP on households; the positive social impacts revealed that households are able to have access to health services due to clinics available in the village, due to availability of village health workers, as well as access to medical exemption from Ministry of Social Development. Furthermore children are able to enrol in school with high numbers; their attendance has increased and they are able to have school consumables. The negative social impacts showed that nutrition needs of children are not met as they frequently eat unbalanced meals and sometimes sleep without food. The study also showed that the grant cannot reduce child poverty as the amounts are very low and fail to meet the demands of the household.Economic impacts of Child Grant programme revealed that child grant has increased chances of employment for many households. Conclusively, the study revealed that there were negative psychological impacts of CGP, positive and negative social impacts were noted and lastly there were positive economic impacts of CGP noted. The recommendation to the Ministry of Social Development is that the ministry should improve functionality of the grant in order to meet inflation demands, monitoring of usage of grant, speeding up case management processes and reducing inclusion and exclusion errors.