Quantitative impact analysis of Uganda’s Senior Citizens Grant

Front cover photo credit: Joseph Basoga, ESP Programme iii F O R E W O R D The Ministry of Gender, Labour & Social Development, on behalf of the Government of Uganda, and in collaboration with development partners including the Department for International Development (DFID/UKAID) and Irish Aid, has pioneered the implementation of social cash transfers, under the Social Assistance Grants for Empow. [...] In the course of implementing Phase II of the Programme, the first evaluations have also been complemented by several other indepen- dent impact studies such as the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI)’s Business Case for Social Protection in Uganda which com- pared districts that benefit from the Senior Citizens Grant, and those that do not. [...] These studies looked at the economic impact of social cash transfers in integrated and remote areas in Uganda; rates of return to social protection in Uganda; social protection investments on human capital and income growth, the relevance of local structures for economic multiplier effects of social pensions in Uganda, among others. [...] These impacts also point to the need to scale up and roll out grants to the whole country so that the benefits to the whole economy are multiplied. [...] I therefore urge academicians, researchers, policy-makers, media, development practitioners and the general public to take keen interest in reading this report and use the findings to further the debate on social protection in the country.