Conference Paper
Harnessing Administrative Data for Impact: The Case of Jordan’s Unified Cash Transfer Programme
No.
ERF_31_PO103
Publisher
ERF
Date
March, 2025
Topic
I3. Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
Over the past decade and a half, Jordan has grappled with persistent economic challenges, including slow growth and deep-rooted structural issues. In 2018, poverty stood at 15. 7%, which is likely to increase further due to recent economic shocks. In response, Jordan has scaled up its social protection system, particularly through the National Aid Fund (NAF), which administers key social assistance programmes. NAF’s Unified Cash Transfer (UCT) programme, launched in 2022, aims to alleviate poverty by providing targeted financial support to vulnerable households. This paper evaluates the short-term impact of Jordan’s UCT programme on economic outcomes, living standards, and school attendance, using administrative data from the National Unified Registry (NUR). Using a combination of rigorous methodologies—regression discontinuity design and propensity score matching with difference-in-differences, the study examines whether the UCT alleviates vulnerability and prevents poverty traps. Although there are positive effects on children’s school enrolment, the programme shows limited success in increasing household income and asset ownership. The study also assesses the programme’s targeting mechanism and data management processes to offer recommendations for future impact evaluations that facilitate improving the effectiveness of the programme in addressing households’ socio-economic risks.
Authors
Teresa Janz
PhD Fellow in Economics and Governance for...
Research Fellows
Zina S. Nimeh
Associate Professor of Public Policy, United Nations...