GiveDirectly Basic Income Pilot (Malawi / Khongoni, Lilongwe Rural)
GiveDirectly, in partnership with the Canva Foundation, ran a basic-income pilot delivering unconditional monthly cash transfers of approximately $50 for 12 months to 12,800 adults in the Khongoni area of Lilongwe Rural district, Malawi. Launched in March 2022 with a $10 million Canva-backed budget, transfers were sized to lift recipients above the extreme poverty line and were paid via mobile money. The pilot also tested and compared three recipient-targeting methods (mobile-phone usage data, geographic/community targeting, and proxy means testing) to inform GiveDirectly's larger-scale cash programs. As of GiveDirectly's current program listing, this specific pilot has concluded and is classified as a past program, superseded by larger district-scale lump-sum transfer programs (e.g., Poverty Eradication II) in Malawi.
Basic income, Mobile money, Targeting methods research, Poverty-line calibrated, Malawi, Canva Foundation
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- GiveDirectly, Inc.
- City
- New York
- State / Province
- New York
- Country
- United States
Contact
- Phone
- +265 634
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Inactive
- Number of recipients
- 12,800
- Funding type
- Nonprofit, Corporate, Research Pilot
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Currency
- USD
- Total Amount
- 600 USD
- Avg. Per Month
- 50 USD
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- How long the program lasts
- 12 months
- Distribution Type
- Mobile money
- Benefit details
Recipients received roughly $50 (USD-equivalent) per month for 12 months, delivered directly to a registered SIM card and cashed out at local mobile money agents/kiosks. Transfer size was calibrated to lift a household above the extreme poverty line for the duration of the pilot. The $10M pilot budget was funded via a Canva Foundation/Canva co-founders partnership announced in 2021 and launched in March 2022.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
All adults (18+) residing in the pre-identified poorest sub-district area of Khongoni, Lilongwe Rural district, Malawi were eligible; there was no individual application. GiveDirectly tested three different methods to identify/target eligible poor households in the area: remote targeting using mobile-phone usage data, geographic/community-based targeting, and proxy means testing (PMT) survey scoring, comparing them for speed, cost, precision, and perceived fairness.
Demographics
- Minimum age
- 18
Geography
- Countries covered
- Malawi
- Counties covered
- Lilongwe Rural District (Khongoni area / Traditional Authority)
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Participation
- Research / participation requirements
The pilot doubled as a methodological study comparing three poverty-targeting approaches (mobile phone data, geographic, proxy means testing) to inform GiveDirectly's broader cash-transfer targeting strategy; some recipients/communities participated in associated surveys and evaluations, but no explicit mandatory data-sharing requirement for individual recipients was documented in public sources.
Application Process
- How to apply
No self-application process. GiveDirectly does not accept inbound applications for its cash programs; it identifies and enrolls eligible households directly in pre-assessed target areas using its own targeting/registration process (household visits, mobile-phone data analysis, or survey-based scoring) and registers recipients for mobile money.
- Selection process
GiveDirectly pre-identified the poorest sub-district area (Khongoni, Lilongwe Rural) and, as part of the pilot's research design, tested three parallel targeting methodologies to select/verify eligible adults: (1) remote targeting via mobile-phone usage/metadata analysis, (2) geographic/community-based targeting, and (3) proxy means testing (door-to-door poverty scorecard surveys). Outcomes of the three methods were compared on cost, speed, precision, and perceived community fairness.
