Cash-for-work in urban setting: a Guinean experience

Action Against Hunger-Spain (ACF-E) is implementing a project to support low-income populations in urban areas of Guinea, funded by the European Union. One of the proposed activities is the organization of cash-for-work with a focus on sanitation and more specifically solid waste collection. The project specific objective is to reduce food and economic vulnerabilities of the poorest community groups of Conakry. Activities are organized in cycles of two to three months at time periods subject to inflation risk (school year, end-of-year festivities, Ramadan, lean season). ACF-E expect the monthly household income to increase by 15% and the beneficiaries’ food consumption improved. The choice of a cash transfer is justified by the food supply mode for the population in the town of Matoto (urban district of intervention selected for its high population density and representing a third of the inhabitants of the capital Conakry) where purchase is the main source of food for 94.8% of households. Only 1.3% of the population within this area are farmers. Markets are well supplied and functional and it is due to a lack of financial resources that the most vulnerable populations have difficulty accessing food. Finally, the cash transfer allows the beneficiaries to identify and fulfil their basic needs while at the same time preserving their dignity.