Exploring the Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfer Programme on Cognitive and Relational Well-Being

Bethan Kell M.Sc. International Development Studies Graduate School of Social Sciences University of Amsterdam

Cover Photo: View over Northern Rwanda, whilst collecting baseline survey data (February 2020)

A Study of Female Beneficiaries in Rwanda 2

Master’s Thesis

Exploring the Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfer Programme on Cognitive and Relational Well-Being

A Study of Ultra-Poor Female Beneficiaries in Rwanda.

In collaboration with

Name: Bethan Kell Student Number: 12651184 Email: [email protected] Course: Master of Science in International Development Studies Supervisor: Nicky Pouw Second Reader: Josh Maiyo Date: 19th June 2020

Abstract

Unconditional cash transfers as a form of development aid have shown to have positive impacts on a person’s material and physical health. However, there is a clear knowledge gap on whether unconditional cash transfers significantly improve a person’s psychological health. This research aims to analyse the effects of unconditional cash transfers on relational and cognitive well-being of beneficiaries in Rwanda. The Capabilities Approach and Well- Being Approach are used to explore how the combination of unconditional cash transfers and weekly skills training build economic capabilities and contribute to cognitive and relational well-being. This study uses a mixed method approach including focus group discussions and semi-structured in-depth interviews, alongside secondary baseline data.

This research finds that beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries consider material well-being to be the most important well-being dimension, along with family, kinship and community. In regard to relational well-being the findings show that the marital relationships of beneficiaries improved as they were able to provide a stable income which lessons tensions in the household related to poverty. Loneliness was curbed through the project as beneficiaries formed friendships with other beneficiaries and felt able to share their problems with other members and project staff. Beneficiaries of the project felt more included in society because they felt unashamed to attend social events. However, the project also had negative community spill over effects. Friends and community members experienced high levels feeling of jealousy towards beneficiaries. Cognitive well-being improved as beneficiaries’ levels of happiness increased. Beneficiaries were able to develop high levels of self-belief and thus created the capacity to develop aspirational hopes and dreams for themselves and their family. Financial goals included; buying land, investing in more animals and educating kids. Controversially, many beneficiaries believed they were not completely satisfied with their life as they still had the desire to grow and achieve more personally and for their family and business. Despite building economic capabilities uncertainty and worry was still felt for the future by beneficiaries in the project.

Key words Unconditional cash transfers Economic capabilities Cognitive well-being Relational well-being Trade-offs Rwanda

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 11

1.1 THE PROBLEM ...... 11 1.2 RELEVANCE ...... 12 1.2.1 PRACTICAL RELEVANCE ...... 12 1.2.2 ACADEMIC RELEVANCE ...... 13 1.3 RESEARCH APPROACH ...... 14 1.4 OUTLINE OF THESIS ...... 14

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 16

2.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 16 2.2 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ‘ULTRA-POOR’, THE CAPABILITY APPROACH? ...... 16 2.3 LITERATURE REVIEW ON UNCONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMMES ...... 18 2.4 COMBINING THE CAPABILITIES APPROACH AND WELL-BEING APPROACH ...... 20 2.5 DIFFICULTIES COMBINING APPROACHES ...... 21 2.6 KEY CONCEPTS ...... 22 2.6.1 FREEDOMS ...... 22 2.6.2 PROTECTIVE SECURITY ...... 22 2.6.3 SOCIAL OPPORTUNITY ...... 22 2.6.4 ECONOMIC CAPABILITIES ...... 23 2.6.5 ENTREPRENEURSHIP ...... 23 2.6.6 FINANCIAL LITERACY ...... 24 2.6.7 WELL-BEING ...... 24 2.6.8 MATERIAL WELL-BEING ...... 25 2.6.9 COGNITIVE WELL-BEING ...... 25 2.6.10 RELATIONAL WELL-BEING ...... 25 2.7 CONCEPTUAL SCHEME ...... 26 2.8 CONCLUSION ...... 27

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...... 28

3.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 28 3.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...... 28 3.3 ONTOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGY ...... 29 3.4 UNIT OF ANALYSIS AND SAMPLING STRATEGY ...... 30 3.5 METHODS ...... 31 3.5.1 FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS ...... 31 3.5.2 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS SEMI STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS ...... 32 3.5.3 NON-PARTICIPANT AND PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION ...... 33 3.5.4 FIELD NOTES AND ADDITIONAL SOURCES ...... 33 3.6 DATA ANALYSIS ...... 33 3.7 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND POSITIONALITY ...... 34 3.8 QUALITY CRITERIA AND LIMITATIONS ...... 35 3.9 CONCLUSION ...... 36

4 EMPIRICAL CONTEXT ...... 38 5

4.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 38 4.2 POLITICAL CHARACTERISTICS ...... 38 4.3 ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES ...... 39 4.4 EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND LEVELS OF FORMAL/INFORMAL ENTERPRISE ...... 41 4.4.1 FEMALE PARTICIPATION ...... 41 4.5 SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS ...... 41 4.6 RESEARCH LOCATION ...... 43 4.7 CONCLUSION ...... 44

5 ECONOMIC CAPABILITIES ...... 46

5.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 46 5.2 100WEEKS SELECTION PROCESS IN TRYING TO TARGET THE ULTRA-POOR ...... 46 5.3 DEMOGRAPHICS ...... 47 5.3.1 AGE ...... 47 5.3.2 EDUCATION OF BENEFICIARIES AND THEIR CHILDREN ...... 47 5.3.3 HOUSEHOLD ASSETS ...... 48 5.3.4 LIVING CONDITIONS ...... 49 5.3.5 CONSUMPTION ...... 50 5.4 HAVE THE ULTRA-POOR BEEN TARGETED? ...... 52 5.5 ECONOMIC CAPABILITIES ...... 53 5.5.1 ENTREPRENEURSHIP ...... 54 5.5.2 COVERING BASIC NEEDS ...... 54 5.5.3 INVESTING IN ASSETS ...... 55 5.5.4 EMPOWERMENT ...... 55 5.5.5 FINANCIAL LITERACY ...... 56 5.6 CONCLUSION ...... 57

6 OVERALL WELL-BEING ...... 59

6.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 59 6.2 MATERIAL WELL-BEING ...... 59 6.2.1 HOUSEHOLD DECISIONS ...... 60 6.3 IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY, KINSHIP AND COMMUNITY ...... 61 6.4 CONCLUSION ...... 63

7 RELATIONAL WELL-BEING ...... 64

7.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 64 7.2 MARITAL EXPECTATION ...... 65 7.2.1 RELATIONSHIP WITH HUSBAND ...... 65 7.2.2 RELATIONSHIP WITH POVERTY ...... 67 7.3 RELATIONSHIP WITH FAMILY ...... 68 7.4 RELATIONSHIPS WITH FRIENDS ...... 68 7.4.1 TRADE-OFF WITH TRUST ...... 69 7.4.2 GENOCIDAL IDEOLOGY ...... 70 7.5 LONELINESS AND SHARING PROBLEMS ...... 70 7.6 INCLUSION IN SOCIETY ...... 72 7.6.1 ATTENDANCE OF SOCIAL EVENTS ...... 72 6

7.7 SENSE OF BELONGING ...... 73 7.8 RELATIONAL WELL-BEING SUMMARY ...... 74 7.9 CONCLUSION ...... 75

8 COGNITIVE WELL-BEING ...... 76

8.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 76 8.2 JOURNEY FROM THE PAST TO PRESENT ...... 76 8.2.1 DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS ...... 76 8.2.2 HAPPINESS ...... 78 8.2.3 OTHER COGNITIVE EMOTIONS ...... 79 8.2.4 SELF-BELIEF ...... 80 8.3 THE PRESENT - LIFE SATISFACTION ...... 81 8.4 THE FUTURE ...... 81 8.4.1 FUTURE ASPIRATIONS ...... 81 8.4.2 OPTIMISM/PESSIMISM ...... 83 8.5 COGNITIVE WELL-BEING SUMMARY ...... 83 8.6 CONCLUSION ...... 84

9 DISCUSSION & FINDINGS ...... 85

9.1 ANSWERING THE MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION ...... 85 9.2 THEORETICAL REFLECTION ...... 87 9.3 METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTION ...... 88 9.4 CONCEPTUAL SCHEME REFLECTION ...... 88 9.5 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 90 9.5.1 100WEEKS ...... 90 9.5.2 TAKE-AWAYS FROM THE SUCCESS OF 100WEEKS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF OTHER UCT PROGRAMMES IN RWANDA ...... 90 9.5.3 CHANGES TO RWANDAN GOVERNMENT PUBLIC POLICY ...... 91 9.6 FUTURE RESEARCH ...... 91

10 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 93

11 APPENDIXES ...... 102

List of Figures, Tables and Images

Figures

Figure 1 Three Dimensions of Well-Being 20

Figure 2 Conceptual Scheme 26

Figure 3 Flag of Rwanda 39

Figure 4 Rwanda's Social Gender Index Scores 42

Figure 5 Map of Northern Province Rwanda 44

Figure 6 Times in a Month Household Went Without Food 50

Figure 7 Times in a Month Household Went Without Water 50

Figure 8 Times in a Month HH Went Without Cooking Fuel 50

Figure 9 Times in a Month HH Went Without Regular Income 50

Figure 10 Graduation Pillars Applied to 100WEEKS, Rwanda 53

Figure 11 Household Decision Making 61

Figure 12 Well-Being in Rwandan Women 63

Figure 13 Adaptation to Conceptual Scheme 71

Figure 14 Visual Representation Relational Well-Being 74

Figure 15 Visual Representation Cognitive Well-Being Network 83

Figure 16 Revised Conceptual Scheme 89

Tables

Table 1 Ubudehe Categorisation 40

Table 2 Summary of SIGI Categories 42

Table 3 School Attendance of 100WEEKS beneficiaries 47

Table 4Material of Walls 49

Table 5 Material of Internal Walls 49

Table 6 Material External Walls 49

Table 7 Frequency of Beneficiaries Household Members 51

Table 8 Occupations of Beneficiaries at Baseline 54

Table 9 Attitude Towards Other Cognitive Emotions 79

Table 10 Ranking in Importance of Hopes and Dreams 82

Table 11 Difference Between Ultra-Poor and Poor People in Rwanda 104 8

Table 12 Summary of Relational Well-Being between Beneficiaries and Non-Beneficiaries 105

Table 14 Summary of Relational Well-Being between Beneficiaries and Non-Beneficiaries 106

Images

Image 1 Picture Taken During Focus Group Discussions 31

Image 2 Picture Taken During Baseline Data Collection 31

Inage 2 Picture Taken During Baseline of Beneficiary’s Home 49

List of Abbreviations

B Beneficiary BD Baseline Data BRAC Building Resources Across Communities CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women

CES-D Centre for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale CT Cash Transfers DRC Democratic Republic of Congo FGD Focus Group Discussion IC Informal Conversation NB Non-Beneficiary NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NISR National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda RPF Rwandan Patriotic Front RWF Rwandan Franc TUP Targeting the Ultra-Poor UCT Unconditional Cash Transfers UN United Nations

Acknowledgements

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those who assisted me the process of writing this thesis.

Firstly, to all the respondents, thank you for taking the time to be involved in this study. I really appreciated your involvement and openness.

Secondly, to 100WEEKS, thank you for being such a great organisation to work alongside. To Jeroen and Gitte, you have a very successful and inspiring organisation. Yvonne, thank you for being there the whole way, I always enjoyed our weekly phone conversations and you have always been there for the odd message or query. Gervais and Fabrice, I could not have asked for a greater pair to be in the field with. Thank you so much for letting me tag along to so many meetings and for always helping assist me in my mobilisation. And to all the enumerators for helping me, I enjoyed spending my field work experience with you all and getting to know each and every one of you.

Thirdly, to the staff at the University of Amsterdam, thank you for the assistance during the Masters. A special thank you to my supervisor Nicky Pouw, who provided me with invaluable guidance throughout, I appreciated it a lot.

Fourthly, Anika thank you for co-supervising and providing amazing insights.

Last, but certainly not least thank you to all my wonderful master’s friends, the days in the library felt endless but we got through it in the end!

1 Introduction

1.1 The Problem

Inequality in the world has been worryingly widening for the last decade, the rich have acquired an exponential amount of wealth and consequently half of the world’s population have been living on less than $5.50 a day (World Bank, 2018). Opportunities for people living in poverty have been stripped and power given to the wealthy. In addition to this, our current power fuelled system has allowed the rich to need minimal effort making money, whilst those living at the bottom are being exploited. Those who are living in poverty need to put in countless working hours for pitiful wages (Oxfam, 2020). Alongside this the engrained societal system has been built on years of sexism, thus women continually find themselves at the bottom of the economic and structural food chain, often in situations of oppression and systematic violence (ibid.) To highlight this Oxfam (2020) found that “the richest 22 men in the world own more wealth than all the women in Africa” (p. 9).

Recently large sums of money and energy have been commissioned to try and target ultra- poor women (Altaf, 2019). One source of development aid which has become increasingly popular as a poverty reduction tool for the poorest in society are unconditional cash transfers (UCT) (Haushofer and Shapiro, 2013). UCTs are small stipends given directly to people on either a weekly or monthly basis. UCTs unlike cash transfers (CT) do not have any pre- determined conditions to allocate money. Thus UCTs can be seen as one of the few poverty reduction tools which give complete agency to the beneficiary. Studies have hailed UCTs as a successful poverty reduction tool. A study by Haushofer and Shapiro (2013) found that’s UCTs in Kenya have allowed households to; buy and build assets (39% over the amount transferred), increase consumption (creating variation in the food eaten and increasing nutrition levels), reduce hunger (increasing food consumption by 20%) and gain revenue (from re-investment and livestock). Whilst these results show significant improvements in a beneficiaries livelihood (the means of securing necessities) they do not necessarily show a significant improvement in a beneficiaries life-satisfaction. Psychological well-being of the beneficiary is often under-exposed and under-highlighted in research, many UCT programmes gloss over this important concept when analysing the effectiveness of UCT interventions.

Research has shown that ultra-poor women have not been able to access money to pay attention to their well-being, they have not invested in education, social networks, healthcare and mental well-being (Altaf, 2019). Coupled with this ultra-poor women have spent countless years feeling inferior, low in self-belief and have self-defeating thoughts (ibid.). Thus a significant amount of research needs to be under-taken to understand whether UCT programmes can help alleviate women from this state of ill-being. Research has shown that once women enter this state of ill-being the negative emotions which have been internalised can stay with the person even after their economic wealth increases (Rojas, 2008). Thus, ultra-poor people experience an inferiority complex even when they become financially better-off.

This research aims to deepen understanding on the psychological ill-being that derives from being ultra-poor and proposes a more comprehensive approach when analysing how UCTs have been effective. The research aims to uncover the individual and structural barriers to achieving psychological well-being in the context of unconditional cash transfers in Rwanda. Through thorough analysis this research highlights the key positive and negative well-being outcomes experienced by beneficiaries.

1.2 Relevance

1.2.1 Practical Relevance

Poverty reduction tools need to be scrutinized and exposed when they fail to provide for the poorest in society. Targeting models which try to specifically target the ultra-poor have not been tested (Alviar et al., 2010). Existing models have outlined the need for targeting tools to still rely on cost considerations and community satisfaction (BRAC, 2019) and often uses local knowledge as a source of poverty indication. Local knowledge whilst not bounded by a strict criteria of eligibility can often result in nepotism and elite capture (Altaf, 2019). As a result it is pertinent to analyse whether UCTs end up reaching the poorest in society.

Not only do poverty reduction tools need to be analysed to see if they reach the poorest category of people they also need to be analysed to see whether there are any unintended consequences arising. Usually these stem from unobservable mechanisms within gender, culture and context. For example for rural Bangladeshi women income-generating 13 opportunities are restricted by patriarchy (Cain, Khanam, and Nahar, 1979), there are religious norms known as ‘purdah’, ‘purdah’ is a social construct that dictates the domestic sphere, this has been resulted in women having lack of control over money (ibid.). When women are in charge of finance, they need to overcome these gender norms, the pressure of this could negatively affect women’s well-being (Goetz and Gupta, 1996). UCTs have been implemented in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda by Give Directly. In a study by Egger et al. (2019) an index of female empowerment showed that empowerment did not significantly change between recipient and non-recipient household in Kenya. Thus, women empowerment can be discouraged due to many patriarchal ideologies in developing countries. Currently, there is no existing literature looking at the psychological effects on UCT programmes in Rwanda. This research aims to look into the outcome of a UCT programme within this area of context.

1.2.2 Academic Relevance

Well-being is encompassed within the Capabilities Approach. Robeyn’s (2017) analysis on the wellbeing, freedom and social justice asserts that “the capability approach is clearly… involved in offering an account of well-being” (p. 118). However, critical writers have pointed out that within the Capability Approach, well-being has become operationalised as purely ‘choice’ (DesGasper, 2000). Simplifying well-being risks running the discourse whereby choice is never considered oppressive (ibid.) In the instance of the capabilities approach the increase of capabilities and choice does not account for overworking, stress and consequent negative health effects (DesGasper, 2002). Thus incorporating a well-being approach to this research provides a holistic understanding to build upon when considering the effectiveness of UCTs.

This thesis utilises a well-being approach in order to address the gap in academic literature that fails to provide substantial qualitative accounts of beneficiaries themselves. Previous studies have predominantly looked at quantitative results. Happiness has been analysed through the evaluation of cortisol levels (Haushofer and Shapiro, 2016) and depression on the Centre for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (Kilburn et al., 2016: 2018, Angeles et al., 2019). Qualitative research highlights the meanings participants give to concepts within research and allows for life experiences to be determined which explain many of the decisions made when choosing between well-being trade-offs. Thus this thesis 14 utilises the Multi-Dimensional Human Well-Being Approach (Pouw & McGregor, 2014). This approach has three dimensions (material, relation and cognitive), in addition to this it incorporates three trade-offs, trade-off between dimensions, trade-offs between the individual and collective (household, family, friends & community) and trade-offs over time (past, present and future) (ibid.)

1.3 Research Approach

To guide this thesis the following research question has been developed: How do Unconditional Cash Transfer Loans combined with skills training lead to economic capabilities and contribute to cognitive and relational well-being of ultra-poor women in North West Rwanda? The focus of this research is on the beneficiaries who are currently receiving UCTs. A mixed-method approach will be utilised for this thesis: qualitative methods, such as focus group discussions and interviews, alongside supplementary secondary data: baseline survey data provided by the organisation.

1.4 Outline of Thesis

The central research question is explored in the following seven chapters. Chapter 2 provides a literature review providing an overall picture of existing UCT programmes and explains the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework is based on the combination of Sen’s Capabilities Approach (Sen, 1985) and the Wellbeing Approach (Pouw and McGregor, 2014). Chapter 3 outlines the research sub-questions, introduces the method and methodology of the research and explains the data analysis of a mixed method approach. In Chapter 4 the essential contextual background of Rwanda is presented including the chosen target location of Musanze and the surrounding districts. Chapter 5 presents the research findings of the targeting strategy in aiming to reach the poorest in society, paying close attention to living conditions and consumption of beneficiaries. This chapter also analyses the economic capabilities built up throughout the project. Chapter 6 connects economic capabilities with the concept of well-being in Rwanda. Chapter 7 aims to isolate relational well-being and explores the relationship between economic capabilities and cognitive dimensions, focusing on key relationships and inclusion within society. Chapter 8 aims to isolate relational well- being and aims to understand the relationship between economic capabilities and cognitive well-being on depression, happiness and life satisfaction. Finally, chapter 9 answers the 15 research question, analysing all well-being dimensions and trade-offs. This section provides reflections on the theory, research methodology and conceptual scheme. This chapter also outlines policy recommendations for key agents associated with the thesis. Following this the chapter outlines suggestions for further research on the topic.

2 Theoretical Framework

2.1 Introduction

This chapter introduces the theoretical framework and outlines the underlying theories of the research. The theoretical framework aims to analyse well-being by looking at concepts of people, poverty and social protection. Section 2.2 explains the category of ultra-poor people as a distinct category from poor people. It outlines previous researchers definitions of this category and draws on the capability approach to assess ‘functioning’s’ and ‘freedoms’ of the ultra-poor. The next section, section 2.3, aims to highlight the difficulty and absence of development aid reaching the poorest category within society. This section also provides a current literature review of existing cash transfers programmes which have specifically targeted the ultra-poor. Section 2.4 introduces the Multidimension Human Well-Being Approach, another key underlying theory which the research is based on. The Well-Being Approach first introduced by McGregor and Pouw (2014) argues that there are three individual but overlapping dimensions of well-being. Section 2.5 outlines key concepts and breaks down these concepts into dimensions, defining each dimension to provide clarity for further chapters. Finally, section 2.7 concludes with the conceptual scheme outlining the journey from receiving UCTs to the development of economic capabilities and how this translates into well-being dimensions.

2.2 What Does it Mean to be ‘Ultra-Poor’, the Capability Approach?

This section explains how the capability approach distinguishes the ‘ultra-poor’ from the ‘poor’. This section highlights the barrier of social exclusion which prevents the ultra-poor from being able to have the ‘functioning’s’ and the freedom to live the standard of life they desire (Sen, 1999a).

The phrase ‘ultra-poor’ was first given attention by Lipton (1983). Lipton differentiated between the poor and ultra-poor and expressed the need for these to be recognised as different groups within society. Lipton (1988) measured the difference in the two categories in terms of food, income and assets. It has been shown that people fall into an ‘ultra-poor’ state for a multiplicity of individual reasons e.g. death of a family member, ill-ness, natural disaster etc. (Narayan et al., 2009). In order to understand this type of poverty, we need to view poverty as a multi-dimensional approach. The multi-dimensional poverty approach 17 encompasses various deprivations people experience and focuses on an individual’s capability to function within society (Sen, 1999b). Sen argues that there is not a set list of basic capabilities that allow people to survive and climb out of poverty as many factors such as agency, reason, choice and context are hugely important when selecting capabilities on an individual basis (Sen, 1993). Nussbaum (2001) tried to develop the capabilities posed by Sen into a theory to conceptualise this thought and argued that well-being is fundamental. Ibid. listed the following as central human capabilities for a ‘good’ well-being, applicable to any context and culture: life, bodily health, bodily integrity, senses, imagination and thought, emotions, practical reason, affiliation, other species, play and control over one’s environment (Nussbaum, 2001, p. 78-80).

Capabilities in essence are the hand of opportunities available for a person to have a life of freedom (Robeyns, 2017). Thus, ‘freedoms’ in a theoretical sense refer to the ways and means a person is able to live the kind of life they wish to have and value. According to Sen development should be viewed “as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy” (Sen, 1999, p.3). Sen (1999) proposed that this could be expressed in terms of five freedoms, political freedom, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees and protective security.

Through the recognition of freedoms, it is possible to make “strong and explicit links to agency, poverty and public policy” (Hulme et al., 2001, pg. 9) these can provide a holistic view to understand the factors that categorise the ultra-poor. Lipton (1983) originally defined the ultra-poor as those who have low transformation capacity of labour into food. The ‘ultra- poor’ are seen as spending more than 80% of their income on food and have very little disposable income over food to spend on non-food products, as a result the ‘ultra-poor’ often stay landless. According to Sen (1981) the ‘ultra-poor’ are unable to provide sufficient food for a subsistent life. Ibid. suggested that the ultra-poor are in large part dependant on public or private transfer-based entitlements. Following this, Bhalla and Lapeyre (1997) introduced the concept of ‘social exclusion’ whereby poverty widens the social sphere for the ‘ultra- poor’ and creates social deprivation and marginalisation. The difference between the ‘ultra- poor’ and ‘poor’ is the ability to access important networks (family, community and voluntary organisations) (De Haan and Maxwell, 2017) . As a result of social exclusion and marginalisation the only way for ‘ultra-poor’ people to survive is by means of begging and welfare from others (Devereux, 2003). Devereux (2003) referred to the ultra-poor as a state 18 of ‘destitution’. Altaf (2019) found that ultra-poor people tend to internalise the negative encounters they have experienced which leave them feeling inferior, low in confidence and undermining their own self-belief. She found that the ultra-poor either get excluded by society (even by family members) or choose to socially exclude themselves, through shame or inferiority. Altaf (2019) explained that ultra-poor people do not develop the capacity to participate in society, engage with politics and thus are unaware of aid given by development agencies. This ultimately widens the gap between ultra-poor people and the five freedoms, this exasperates as times goes on. Hulme et al. (2001) showed that in the absence of capabilities and freedoms people can end up in a state of chronic poverty i.e. poverty lasting for longer than five years.

2.3 Literature Review on Unconditional Cash Transfer Programmes

Unconditional cash transfers can be viewed as a social protection for the ‘ultra-poor’ in society and can provide agency to function. Unconditional cash transfers in theory can be an ideal, cost effective development strategy for households with heterogeneous needs (Haushofer and Shapiro, 2016). However, this theory is only effective if it reaches the ‘ultra- poor’. As explained in section 2.2, the ultra-poor are often excluded from society, the vast majority of development interventions cannot make their way to the ultra-poor in society because the ultra-poor cannot be heard or seen (Altaf, 2019). As a result many ‘ultra-poor’ miss out. There is also a significant lack of (intentional) targeting, which could be attributed to nepotism and elite capture, lack of transparency in why the ultra-poor have been excluded and lack of evaluation and monitoring from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government institutions (ibid). Paying attention to gender is important, research shows women spend money in a more family-friendly way, based on household consumption and spending studies (UNICEF, 2016). Women are usually brokers of nutrition, health and education status of children within the household and have been shown to smooth consumption more effectively than men (Goetz and Gupta, 1996).

When looking into successful unconditional cash implementation programmes for the ultra- poor Building Resources Across Communities (BRAC) can be considered one of the most important actors. BRAC is an unconditional cash transfer programme which provides loans to ultra-poor women in Bangladesh. It is currently one of the most holistic cash transfer intervention in existence. This programme was one of the first which combined UCTs with a 19 weekly skills training to provide a human capital aspect alongside protective security. The BRAC model provides trainings which aim to build up economic capabilities such as; entrepreneurship and financial literacy (Ahmed and Chowdry, 2001). Lawson et al. (2017) stated that in comparison to poor people, people living in an ultra-poor state cannot benefit from a single instrument. Hence, an intervention needs to pay attention to not only the material aspect, but also skill training, coaching, and community based approach.

BRAC’s TUP (Targeting the Ultra-Poor) programme introduced in 2002 has been one of the most successful at reaching the poorest in Bangladesh. They use village participatory methods and survey’s to access the poorest in society (Hulme and Moore, 2007). The TUP programmes is unique due to the combination of different types of promotional aid e.g. skill training, asset grants, stipends. TUP programmes also try to address social-political aspects of different levels within society. There are five steps to the programmes: participatory spatial maps and wealth rankings, asset transfer, stipends and cash transfers, savings and monitoring and finally trainings given through home visits. After accomplishing all of the steps recipients are deemed ‘graduated’ from extreme poverty, this is known as the graduation approach. Over 2 million ultra-poor people have been targeted in Bangladesh as of December 2018 and out of the chosen recipients 95% achieve ‘graduation’ (BRAC, 2019).

Hulme and Moore (2007) looked at the TUP programme through a critical lens. It was shown that some particular types of ultra-poor people are not reached, these include the economically unable, elderly, chronically ill, (AIDS) orphans and ‘adversely incorporated people’ (e.g. refugees, indigenous people and bonded labourers) (Ibid., 2007, p.12). Paying specific attention to the cash transfer stage of the TUP programme many authors have looked at the overall effectiveness on empowerment, especially within women. Bastagli et al. (2016) found that whilst cash transfers do tend to increase women’s decision-making power it can sometimes be accompanied with non-physical abuse or controlling behaviour. Cash transfers need a considerable amount of focus on context-specific gender relations and the underlying causes of gender-based inequality in order to be effective. Thus, a cash transfer should be given in such a way that it minimises intra-household tensions and helps to tackle gender barriers and norms.

2.4 Combining the Capabilities Approach and Well-being Approach

Building on Sen’s (1985) capability approach, poverty has been considered to be an experienced state, this combines the “objective circumstances of a person and their ‘subjective’ perception of their condition” (McGregor, 2006, pg. 3) to better understand poverty. Thus, the well-being approach is needed to re-define the individual as a social human being who achieves well-being by relating to others. Well-being is determined through the quality of life, relationships and possession of things (White, 2009). In terms of development, the capabilities approach can be combined with Pouw and Mcgregor’s (2014) Well-Being Approach. The Well-Being approach branches away from traditional thought of income and welfare centred development and towards human well-being as a key development aim. The main concept is that the market economy is a social phenomenon (Pouw, 2015) and relationships between economic agents is key to understanding how the economic sphere operates.

Pouw and McGregor (2014) conceptualise well-being into three dimensions; material, cognitive and relational. Pouw and McGregor (2014) view the three dimensions of well-being as an overlapping Venn Diagram, where each dimension can be considered as a stand-alone dimension or as a combination of two/three dimensions (Figure 1). Thus the “realisation of quality of life can thus be assessed in an integrated and comprehensive manner by looking at the intersection” (p. 17). Figure 1 The Three-Dimensional Approach to Well-Being.

Material Well-Being

Cognitive/ Subjective Relational Well- Well-Being Being

Source: Interpretation from Pouw and McGregor (2014) 21

Pouw and McGregor (2014) highlight the complexity of well-being as a concept, noting that trade-offs continuously occur. Three trade-exposed in the literature are as follows. Individuals choose (or could be forced through poverty) different combinations of well-being dimensions, for example some people might prioritise the material aspect of well-being at the expense of their cognitive and relational well-being. Well-being decisions also depends on the “trade-offs people are willing to make on behalf of others, their relations and what they want to share as a collective” (Pouw and McGregor, 2014, p. 18). Finally, well-being can be shown to have trade-offs over time, the well-being achieved today ultimately determines the future (ibid.)

Perceived well-being from UCT programmes must be seen to improve one or a combination of well-being dimensions and must have a sustainable change over a person’s lifetime. Looking at UCTs as a sustainable poverty solution allows us to move beyond the observable material aspects of poverty and into an experienced state of poverty (Rojas, 2008). Studying poverty through a well-being approach may shed light on the reason why even though people are provided with temporary aid they still show some dissonance between income poverty and experienced poverty (ibid.). This dissonance could be shown by a person who experiences an income level that moves them out of income poverty but still experiences poverty through low life satisfaction and ‘ill-being’ (McGregor, 2004). This approach to poverty places importance on people who have been able to forge a way out of deprivation (of freedoms) and into a state of well-being.

2.5 Difficulties Combining Approaches

Whilst interest in the conceptualisation of well-being within development has been increasing, it is still majorly underdeveloped. One reasons for this is that conceptualising an approach requires definition and measurement. It is difficult to define and measure well- being as it is deeply subjective and personal (White, 2009). In addition to this, whilst conducting research in the Global South, collective well-being needs to be encountered for more as the opinions of others can have a much more influential impact. Societies in the Global South tend to be more collectivist, especially in relation to autonomy (Devine et al., 2006; Gough and McGregor, 2007). Furthermore, underlying universal well-being elements need to be established and measured.

At the core of the concept of well-being, one needs to understand what you need to have for a satisfactory life. Measuring this can be problematic as different people’s views on how they feel and assess the quality of their life is influenced by personality and individual context. Thus, to add more rigor to the research several domains need to be addressed such as social relationships and material conditions (White, 2009).

2.6 Key concepts

2.6.1 Freedoms

Freedoms are an essential key concept when understanding the human well-being of the ultra-poor. It is a key concept to understand development for evaluative and effectiveness (Sen, 1999, Chapter 1). Freedoms have been described as an end and a means to development. Addressing a means to development refers to the five categories of instrumental freedom. The five freedoms are as follows: political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunity, transparency guarantees and protective security. According to Sen (1985) and Nussbaum (2001) capabilities and functioning’s are influenced by these freedoms which in turn affects the situation of the individual and their ability to climb out of poverty. Due to the relevance and feasibility this research will only include protective security, social opportunities and economic capabilities.

2.6.2 Protective security

Protective security refers to the intention to prevent certain populations from being subject to abject poverty through social safety nets. (Sen, 1999, p.40). According to Sen (1999), there are two types: fixed institutional arrangements such as official laws and policies that protect people’s rights and ad-hoc arrangements such as informal avenues available by NGO’s and private institutions to attempt to improve a person’s quality of life.

2.6.3 Social Opportunity

Social opportunities cover a broad range of aspects within society. Society creates arrangements which aid an individual’s freedoms, constrains their abilities and shapes how they act and what they are capable of doing (Sen, 1999). In order for people to possess agency, individuals must have social opportunities otherwise they remain inactive agents 23 within society. At the core of social opportunities there is basic healthcare, basic education and land ownership and rights. Giving an individual access to be healthy, educated and possess land gives substantive freedom to a better life (Sen, 1999, p.39). Governments should not allow for social opportunities to be provided by the free market, instead public policy should centre around the provision and distribution of these needs (Duhs, 2008). Social opportunities effect both the private and public life of unconditional cash transfer recipients, as they provide the prerequisites for participation in the economic sphere through skills and health. All three aspects of social opportunity, health (health insurance), education (weekly skills programme and children’s education) and land ownership and will be used in this research to demonstrate the opportunities available to UCT beneficiaries.

2.6.4 Economic Capabilities

Economic capabilities look at the access an individual has to the economic sphere through employment. Economic capabilities allow an individual to consume, produce and exchange economic resources (Sen, 1999). This influences the ability for a household and individual to manage their expenses, to make spending decisions and to save excess money. When referring to freedom this expresses the choice to work in the absence of forced labour and in a field of choice. The economic capabilities which will be addressed in this thesis in detail are entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

2.6.5 Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the combination of covering basic needs, investing in assets and increasing empowerment. The entrepreneurship that is usually seen in developing countries is ‘survival’ or necessity’ entrepreneurship (Berner et al., 2012). Survival entrepreneur do not have a choice whether or not to start a business as they cannot usually find wage employment due to low levels of education. Survival entrepreneurs do not adhere to the normal logic that entrepreneurs should take risks (ibid.). The aim of a survival entrepreneur is to increase security in the household and smoothen consumption (ibid.). For this reason, survival entrepreneurs tend to specialise in selling one produce or working in one kind of enterprise in order to secure basic needs. Berner et al. (2012) also argue that “reciprocity is an essential mechanism to cope with volatility and vulnerability” (pg. 3).

Once basic needs are covered a shift in focus can occur whereby the beneficiaries can start thinking beyond survival means. According to Berner et al. (2012) capacitated individuals in the survival group can become skilled workers in small enterprises. Growth driven entrepreneurs are those who are motivated to see their business expand (ibid.). This can happen through the investment in assets and acquiring revenue to re-invest in business. “Women’s economic empowerment refers to improvements and transformations in women’s rights, agency, voice and decision-making in relation to markets” (Vossenberg, 2016, pg. 5), through developing business and investing in assets empowerment can increase in women.

2.6.6 Financial Literacy

Financial literacy refers to the educated financial decision people have to make on a day to day basis. Cognitive capacity can be diminished as a result of constantly having to make mentally challenging financial decisions. Vohs (2003) found that those who live in poverty face constant financial dilemmas, as such due to the continuous nature subsequent financial decisions are more likely to be impulsive or potentially problematic. This ia an example of poor financial literacy. When micro-finance loans and savings lessen the cognitive burden, this allows people relief by smoothing consumption. Consumption smoothing describes how people minimize uncertainty and optimize security by ensuring proper balance of spending and saving. Literature has shown that when people have savings their cognitive well-being is improved due to the confidence in being able to react to unforeseen financial shocks (Goetz and Gupta, 1996), thus the ability to smooth consumption and manage debt is seen as a long- term economic capability.

2.6.7 Well-Being

The Well-being in Developing Countries Research (WeD) define well-being as a “state of being with others, where human needs are met, where one can act meaningfully to pursue one's goals, and where one enjoys a satisfactory quality of life” (ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries, 2007, p. 1).

Well-being according to McGregor (2004) is the combination of:

• The resources that people have • The needs that they are able to fill • And the evaluation of subjective well-being

2.6.8 Material Well-Being

Refers to the amount of income wealth of an individual and whether materials can determine quality of life (Pouw and McGregor, 2014).

2.6.9 Cognitive Well-Being

Cognitive well-being deals with the subjective evaluation of quality of life (McGregor, 2004). One aim of poverty interventions is to improve self-belief, this gives people the confidence to exert control over one’s motivations, behaviour and social environment. Franzblau and Moore (2001: p. 93-94) suggest that personal control is collectively a cause and consequence of the environment that surrounds them. It could be problematic to assume that ultra-poor people can always have control over their life if they wish too, as happiness or perceived self-efficacy may not be necessarily helpful in aversive environments (ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries, 2007). People living in extreme poverty may experience dysfunctional thinking which leads to a darkness and depression symptoms (Franzblau and Moore, 2001).

2.6.10 Relational Well-Being

Relational dimension takes into account the importance of having a social support system and network and the impact this has on overall well-being (ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing countries, 2007). There is an assertion that people in poverty are the least powerful in society and their ability to exercise agency to counter inequality and improve their livelihood is supressed (Mosse, 2010). Relational well-being takes into account that people’s quality of life will be determined with the quantity and quality of relationships in their life (McGregor, 2004).

2.7 Conceptual Scheme

Figure 2 Conceptual Framework

Source: Application of Theoretical Underpinnings

2.8 Conclusion

This chapter. highlighted the evolution of ultra-poor as a concept over time and the importance of categorising between the poor and ‘ultra-poor’ in terms of functionings and freedoms. This section showed the importance of gender mainstreaming development aid as consumption is smoothed within the household if money is given to women, however it can be shown that women are often subject to negative patriarchal consequences and lack agency in certain countries. This chapter outlined UCT programmes in existence, and the difficulty in targeting the ultra-poor. This chapter introduced the well-being approach as a basis for well- being dimensions to be analysed. The Well-Being Approach was shown to consist of three dimensions material, cognitive and relational and this theoretical approach argues that combining the three well-being dimensions with ‘freedoms’ provide a holistic basis to understand the effectiveness of UCT interventions. Following this, key concepts are defined, breaking down concepts into their correspondent dimensions. Finally this chapter demonstrated how the conceptual scheme will be used to analyse the relationships between concepts.

3 Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction

Following on from the theory which grounds this research, this chapter outlines the process of knowledge and the process of data collection and analysis. Section 3.2 outlines the research questions and sub-questions which outline what knowledge we aim to know in the conclusion. Section 3.3 clarifies the ontological and epistemological stance which will help justify the decisions for the methods and methodology section. Section 3.4 discusses the unit of analysis and unit of observation and section 3.5 highlights the different sampling methods, data collection and data analysis. Section 3.6 outlines the process of data collection, breaking down the different methods undertaken in the field. Following this section 3.6 sheds light on how the data will analysed. Finally section 3.7 reflects on the quality criteria and section 3.8 reflects on the ethical considerations of the research, focusing primarily on limitations and recommendations for the future.

3.2 Research Questions

The research questions were framed within a well-being and multi-dimensional poverty approach. This research is in cooperation with 100WEEKS. 100WEEKS is a Dutch organisation which provides unconditional cash transfers to women beneficiaries for a duration of 100 weeks. Along with the money beneficiaries receive a weekly skill and training session. This research aims to compare well-being dimensions of women beneficiaries in the 100WEEKS project with ultra-poor women receiving no financial aid.

The sub-questions start with understanding the selection process of 100WEEKS, this aims to analyse whether the poorest in society have been reached. The following questions are aimed at bottom-up findings, the sub-questions are designed to manage the overall research question by firstly building up a contextual narrative of economic capabilities and well-being. Sub questions iii) and iv) aim to explain how these abilities translate into overall well-being by focusing on unobservable mechanisms and isolated dimensions.

Main Research Question: How do Unconditional Cash Transfer Loans combined with skills training lead to economic capabilities and contribute to cognitive and relational well-being of ultra-poor women in North West Rwanda?

My sub-questions look at: I. How were women selected for 100WEEKS and how does the weekly skills training help develop economic capabilities? II. What do ultra-poor women consider to be well-being/ill-being and what are the unobservable mechanisms behind this concept? III. How do 100WEEKS beneficiaries perceive their relational well-being (individual, collective and over time)? a) Do beneficiaries attribute any change in relational well-being to the economic capabilities built up through 100WEEKS? b) How does relational well-being of beneficiaries compare to non-beneficiaries? IV. How do 100WEEKS beneficiaries perceive their cognitive well-being (individual, collective and over time)? c) Do beneficiaries attribute any change in cognitive well-being to the economic capabilities built up through 100WEEKS? d) How does relational well-being of beneficiaries compare to non-beneficiaries?

3.3 Ontology and Epistemology

Since epistemological assumptions prevail upon ontological assumptions, which in turn derive the type of methodology and data collection, it is crucial to talk through the philosophy behind this research.

This research is guided by a relativistic epistemological approach. Relativism as an epistemological approach puts emphasis on the fact that values, interests and objectivity only have meaning when a variety of different individual perspectives and viewpoints come to a social agreement (Smith, 1983). Relativism acknowledges there are multiple interpretations of reality and this requires the engagement of humans through culture, agency and structure (Guba, 1990). Guba (1990) implies that none of these interpretations are either correct or false. Epistemologically it means that the reflections of reality we see as a researcher though inter-subjectivity is context and time specific, this acts as a limit to this approach (Smith, 30

1983). Quantitative analysis is usually lacking in well-being research due to a restricted time frame and nature of the concept, however having this this secondary data source deepens my analysis and embrace the relativistic nature of the research by widening the sample of realities.

The methodology is guided by the constructivist approach, due to the explorative nature of human experience. This research looks at the realities of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries’ socio-economic life. The constructivist approach is deemed best suited to comprehend these realities. The constructivist approach has three methodological implications ‘inductive’, ‘interpretative’ and ‘historical’ (Pouliout, 2007, pg. 364 – 367). Firstly, ‘inductive’ refers to starting with individuals, whilst well-being dimensions were constantly at the forefront of interview questions, participants were free to talk around the questions and guide interview outcomes. ‘Interpretative’ means that the importance of the individuals role in society and whether or not financial aid is received should be recognised (Pouliout, 2007). The research should also be ‘historical’ so the issues at hand should have constantly been evolving as time goes on (ibid.). The participant should also be probed to think from a previous well-being mindset. Ideally participants would have been asked about the concepts at different times whilst on placement, this acknowledges that time whilst on placement was limited and this bounds the research to the temporal nature of social life (Blaikie, 1993).

3.4 Unit of Analysis and Sampling Strategy

The main unit of analysis of the research was the improvement or decline in relational and cognitive well-being of beneficiaries in the 100WEEKS project. The research achieves this by observing and interviewing 100WEEKS beneficiaries and analysing the difference in their well-being throughout the project. The well-being of female beneficiaries was directly compared to the well-being of non-beneficiaries, of which these women had not participated in the 100WEEKS project or received any other financial aid. Non-beneficiaries were comparable in terms of key characteristics such as age, poverty category, education, employment. A table showing the key characteristics of non-beneficiaries can be found in the appendix (appendix 1). The main aim was to target ultra-poor women as similar to 100WEEKS beneficiaries as possible, the only difference being the lack of aid received.

When going about sampling beneficiaries, I was given access to the entire list of beneficiaries in an excel file. When choosing beneficiaries to interview, I would select the group I wanted to interview based on location, duration in project. A number was then allocated to each beneficiary between 1-20. I would randomly select the women to be interviewed using an online random number generator. My project manager would then help me access these women and arrange a time and place to be interviewed. Whilst interviewing non- beneficiaries, snowball sampling was used. Snowball sampling uses an initial small sample, then through relations a larger sample can be targeted. I would ask 100WEEKS coaches to identify women with similar selection criteria as an initial sample group. Targeting non- beneficiaries was done in clusters, whilst there is a potential for biases from coaches I asked a different coach to select the first non-beneficiary interviewed and from that I could access relatives and friends with similar characteristics.

Image 1:Picture Taken During Focus Group Discussion. Image 2: Picture Taken During Baseline Data Collection

3.5 Methods

3.5.1 Focus Group Discussions

The first stage of data collection was conducted by running focus group discussions (FGDs) with women currently in the 100WEEKS project. FGDs were useful for gathering collective perspectives (Hennink et al., 2011) such as economic capabilities and well-being. The research initially used FGDs since they “offer the researcher the chance to study ways in which individuals collectively make sense of a phenomenon and construct meaning around it” (Bryman, 2016, p. 504). FGDs will aim to answer the first two sub-questions, the first sub question centres around 100WEEKS selection and the build-up of economic capabilities. The 32 second sub-question centres around what well-being is in Rwanda. Both sub-questions require constructing a phenomenon and meaning, thus FGDs were the chosen method. FGDs were a conscious choice as they can be shown to alleviate some of the antagonising nature that interviews evoke as well as diluting the power relation between the moderator and participant. FGD participants were able to take some control over the direction of the session and exposes ideas that had not occurred to me beforehand. FGDs were a source of reassurance that dimensions were understood, and language used was appropriate. From the FGDs I decided to rephrase wording for depressive symptoms and sense of belonging (as both were thought of in terms of material wealth by beneficiaries).

3.5.2 In-depth Interviews Semi Structured Interviews

As the main unit of observation were female beneficiaries from 100WEEKS, my primary source of data came from in-depth semi structured interviews. I managed to interview 11 women from the project. The interviews were usually conducted during weekly training session, where all 20 beneficiaries and coaches were present. Interviews were used to answer the final two sub-questions looking at the isolation of cognitive and relational well-being. Interviews were more appropriate than FGDs due to the personal and sensitive subject of well-being. All interviews were conducted in a quiet place near to where the training session was being conducted, by doing this it meant that the women did not have to travel out of their way to meet me. After every question I asked the beneficiaries to compare and contrast how they felt now to before the project started, this gave me a constructivist interpretation of their well-being. The interviews conducted with non-beneficiaries were run in church grounds as these tend to be a central landmark for a few villages or towns. All women interviewed were Christian. I interviewed 17 control group participants, the questions were almost entirely the same as the women in the project however questions focused only on current life situation.

All the interviews were done using a translator which reared a number of implications to my research. Although the intention was that the translator would translate during the interview a lot of finer detail was missed due to the women talking for a few minutes and the translator not being able to retain all detail the women had said. As a result, many of the interviews were translated afterwards by asking a Rwandan native speaker to sit and translate line by line. The translators that I used were all ‘enumerators’, students in university who were employed by 100WEEKS to ring the beneficiaries to discuss problems they were 33 experiencing. The students had experience in talking effectively to the women, so they all understood the tone and language that was appropriate. However, none of the ‘enumerators’ had any translating experience.

3.5.3 Non-Participant and Participant Observation

During the data collection process, beneficiary and non-beneficiary observations were collected during onboarding meetings, baseline questionnaires, staff intervention meetings and training sessions for coaches. Onboarding sessions were always held two weeks before the women receive their mobile phones which receive first instalment of the 100WEEKS mobile money. Baseline questionnaire’s took place in the women’s houses, enumerators from the 100WEEKS project enter the women’s houses and ask them a series of questions related to demographics, education, health, children, family planning, consumption, housing, wealth, well-being, social capital, finance and empowerment. The baseline survey is also used as a visiting opportunity for 100WEEKS staff to see the condition of the beneficiaries houses before the project starts. A meeting was attended after one of the 100WEEKS staff had been informed that a group of beneficiaries had decided to take out loans, the 100WEEKS staff member went to the district to understand the purpose of the loans i.e. consumption or investment in assets. Other meetings attended during fieldwork included a meeting with 100WEEKS coaches. During this meeting 100WEEKS coaches received training provided from the Netherlands addressing documentation of financial diaries.

3.5.4 Field notes and additional sources

This research was strengthened by using thick descriptions of social settings and beneficiary backgrounds. Whilst in the field notes were continually written which included as much description of environments, locations, body language and other potentially interesting factors. The appendixes act as a detail description to show exactly what questions were asked as part of my research procedure and can act as a guide for future researchers.

3.6 Data Analysis

The research looks at the contribution UCT programmes have on well-being, as this is explorative by nature, a deductive approach was taken to the analyse the data, the research empirically scrutinises the hypothesis based on existing theory and social research (Bryman, 34

2016). During the time in the field, comprehensive notes were taken and transcripts of FGDs and interview were compiled which was used to run ‘open coding’ to detect key themes. Strauss and Corbin (1990) define open coding as “the process of breaking down, examining, comparing, conceptualizing and categorising data” (p. 61). This coding procedure helps to generate concepts which will later be grouped, and categories formed. The aim of open coded is to saturate the data so that “no new information of themes are observed in the data” (Guest, Brunce and Johnson, 2006, p. 59).

The quantitative data used in this analysis is mostly descriptive in nature, serving mainly to generalise findings. The variables obtained by 100WEEKS are nominal (e.g. gender, occupation), ordinal data (e.g. education level) along with interval data (e.g. age). Questions focusing on economic capabilities and well-being, which will be of significant interest to this research, are mostly ordinal in nature, this data analysis will require visualization tools (Bryman, 2016). Visualization tools such as frequency tables, bar charts and pie charts have been created using SPSS. Secondary data will be used in the first two sub-questions to help construct concepts due to the accessibility of a large number of circumstances as data was available for this. The following two sub-questions need a grounded constructivist approach to analyse personal life-situations and accounts of cognitive and relational. Thus in-depth interviews will be utilised for these sections.

As there is no control group in the quantitative data, the validity of the results can be compromised, discoveries on causation are difficult to make solely using the findings from the questionnaire. In appendix 1. a comparison between secondary baseline data participant, beneficiaries who partook in interviews and non-beneficiaries who partook in interviews has been created to compare the three groups. The figures show that there is consistency in key characteristics between all data sources and participants.

3.7 Ethical Considerations and Positionality

Whilst in the field, ethical guidelines were taken into consideration when making any decision related to participation and welfare. As the concepts in my research were of a personal and intrusive manner, sensitivity was considered at all times. Whilst discussing well-being with interviewees some of variables were of a triggering nature, such as loneliness, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. In order to not cause any harm to the 35 participant I would pause the interview and make sure that the participant felt comfortable and happy to continue with the interview, this was one of the motives for selecting semi- structured interviews.

Before gathering any data, I obtained written consent and emphasized to the participant that they had the ability to withdraw from the research at any point. Ethical guidelines shaped the way I behaved towards participants in order to gain trust. I gained trust by attending weekly training sessions, I also had either a project staff or translator introduce me to the women and outline my interest and intention for the research. Regarding positionality I was aware of the complexity that came with being associated to a non-governmental organisation. I ensured that confidentiality would be taken very seriously and that anything the participants talked about during the interview would not be shared anyone including the country manager or project manager. This positionality was also equally as important whilst interviewing non- beneficiaries who had not been selected to receive temporary aid from 100WEEKS. For these interviews I positioned myself as an independent researcher so that participants did not believe that my interview would help them to receive any development aid.

3.8 Quality Criteria and Limitations

As argued by Guba and Lincoln (1985,1994 in: Bryman, 2016) the most important criteria for qualitative data are firstly ‘trustworthiness’ which consists of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability and secondly, ‘authenticity’.

Credibility ensures that multiple accounts of social reality are incorporated into research to avoid making conclusions from a single narrative usually expressed by the majority. Well- being as a concept can be understood as a construct of individual perspectives and stand points. To ensure credibility in my research I ran FGDs with different groups of beneficiaries in an attempt to get multiple perspectives in case one person’s viewpoint influenced the group. Selection bias proved to be a limitation as I only interviewed a certain age demographic, poverty category, calibre and gender. To try and counteract this I had an additional interview with one of the 100WEEKS staff in order to triangulate my findings.

Regarding the criteria of transferability and dependability, this research aimed to gain rich accounts of the details of the culture of Rwanda as well as an attempt to widen the context to 36 similar African developing nations by reading about the problems in different countries and communicating with the 100WEEKS staff on their experiences in other locations the project is working in. The main focus was to understand the local context and culture with the help of my supervisor and enumerators. I audited my research in order to ensure dependability, during the field I kept a transparency document which is also available in the appendix (appendix 5). The transparency documents provides relevant details to identify participants.

Confirmability could have been compromised by the type of questions I needed to ask in my interviews. During FGDs I noticed that relational and especially cognitive well-being was not a topic openly discussed in Rwanda as many questions seemed to stem back to material well- being. In order to mitigate this in my interviews I realised that questions needed to be focused and directed at certain well-being dimension. Thus restricted the breadth and explorative nature of answers.

To adhere to the second quality criteria authenticity, a researcher should look into the politics of fairness, ontological authenticity, education authenticity, catalytic authenticity and tactical authenticity (Bryman, 2016, pg. 386). Whilst my research represents different women, not all views have been fairly represented, especially those at the starting stages of the project. In terms of authenticity, the results of the research will hopefully be used by the project itself to confirm to donors success of the project on women’s well-being. The results can also be used as recommendations in both a continuum and constructive manner. Similarly, when it comes to catalytic authenticity, 100WEEKS staff who are actively working with the beneficiaries can be informed of my research to try to change beneficiaries well-being realities within the project.

3.9 Conclusion

This chapter outlined the research questions and sub-questions for the following research. Following this a relativistic epistemology and constructivist ontology was established. The process for selecting participants was explained, iterative sampling for 100WEEKS beneficiaries and purposive/snowball sampling for non-beneficiaries. A breakdown of data collection was compiled, including FGDs, in-depth semi structured interviews and secondary data sources. Data analysis is an important part of research and it was highlighted that open coding would be used to detect key themes and SPSS used to show visuals from the 37 secondary data source. The next section looked at ethical considerations and positionality. This section highlighted the difficulty of researching whilst being affiliated with a charity and the triggering nature of well-being dimensions. Finally the chapter concluded with reflections on the quality criteria and limitations of this research in this field.

4 Empirical Context

4.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the context of the research country, Rwanda. Section 4.2 summarises the history of Rwanda from genocide to current day presidency. Section 4.3 sheds light on current poverty reduction policies and economic landscape, focusing on female participation. Section 4.4 outlines the social characteristics including gender, education and healthcare. After exploring the overall country profile, section 4.5 focuses on the research location and focuses predominantly on economic characteristics of the research area.

4.2 Political Characteristics

Rwanda is a nation located in East Africa, surrounded by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi. Rwanda has a relatively loaded history of conflict and civil war however, recently Rwanda has been able to regain stability and come together as a united nation. Rwanda is 26,338 km2 and has a population of 12,310,939 (World Bank, 2018), which was previously divided into three tribes, Hutu (85%), Tutsi (14%) and Twa (1%). In 1990 the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) a refugee rebel group from Uganda invaded the northern territories of Rwanda which sparked the Rwandan civil war. The Tutsi rebel group blamed the current Hutu-dominated government for not addressing the problems Ugandan refugees faced. Whilst there was no winner from the civil war it weakened the Hutu authority and on 6th April 1994, the civil war ended with a cease fire when Habyarimana (Hutu current president) was assonated. Habyariamana’s plane was targeted near Kigali airport. This sparked ethnic tension and within hours the Rwandan genocide had begun. Over the next 100 days approximately 800,000 Rwandans died as the Hutu’s sought revenge on the Tutsi minority (Scheffer, 2004). By mid-July 1994 the Tutsi RPF had systematically gained control over the country, over 2 million Hutu’s had fled the country and the long journey of reconciliation and peace was initiated by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Des Forges, 1999).

Today the country seems stable, the current president Paul Kagame took presidency in 2000, continuing to win the election in 2003 and 2010. Following a referendum change in 2015, Kagame has remained in power till today, with 98.79% of the votes in the 2017 election 39

(Lacey, 2003). He has been championed as an incorruptible, visionary leader and has helped Rwanda to become a ‘donor darling’ in the international aid community.

The flag of Rwanda was adopted in 2001, to symbolise unity and confidence in the future. The blue band stands for happiness and peace, the yellow stands for economic development and the green band stands for hope and prosperity.

Figure 1 Flag of Rwanda

Source: Wikipedia (2020)

4.3 Economic Characteristics and Development Policies

Despite rapid economic improvements Rwanda is still classed as a low-income country by the World Bank however it’s goal is to become a middle-income country by 2035 (The World Bank, 2019). It aims to do this by becoming a prosperous place for foreign investment and business start-ups, The World Bank (2019) stated that “public investment has become the main engine of transformation” (p. ix) this has earnt Rwanda the title ‘the Singapore of Africa’.

Since the election of Kagame in 2000, Rwanda’s Human Development Index and rates of tourism have profited. The country has seen a rapid decrease in the poverty rates (from 77.2% in 2001 to 55.5% in 2017) and life expectancy has improved (from 46.6 years in 2000 to 59.7 years in 2015) (The World Bank, 2019). Numbers of ultra-poor people have been declining through the governments social policy which has been successful at providing protective security. Ubudehe is a form of social policy in Rwanda and is a term used to describe “culture of collective work” (Ezeanya-Esiobu, 2017 p. 13). Today, Ubudehe forms a categorisation system in which Rwandans use the ‘Umugundu’ structures (lowest 40 administration structures) (ibid.). The current Ubudehe system, was implemented in all provinces in February 2015 (ibid.).

The Ubudehe categories are as follows:

Table 1 Ubudehe Categories

Source: Definition of Ubudehe Categoristion (Ezeanya-Esiobu, 2017 p. 14-15).

Those who fall in the bottom two (ultra-poor and poor) category often receive protective security from the Rwandan Government, such as health insurance card subsidies, tertiary education grants and the ‘Grinka’ (see Appendix 2.).

Alongside government social protection policies UCTs have also been implemented in Rwanda by Concern Worldwide Graduation Programme (CWGR), which provides beneficiaries with monthly stipends and livelihood training similar to BRAC’s graduation scheme. To be eligible for this aid, beneficiaries have to be classified within the bottom two Ubudehe categories. A study by the Department of Statistics at Hallym University looked at the predictability of Ubudehe categories for accurately classifying households in the correct category. The predictability of Ubudehe categories using the governments set of variables for household assets and consumption was only 35.9% highlighting the mis-representation (Nizeyimana et al., 2018). A study analysing the effectiveness of CWGR concluded no 41 significant change in school attendance only that the proportion of children wearing school uniform had increased by 42% (Sabates et al., 2019).

4.4 Employment Opportunities and Levels of Formal/Informal Enterprise

Rwanda has never been endowed in natural resources like it’s neighbouring countries, DRC and Tanzania. Thus, the economy and employment opportunities depend mostly on subsistent agriculture. Of Rwandan’s workforce, around 90% are predicted to work in the agricultural sector.

4.4.1 Female Participation

Economically, Rwandan women’s labour force participation rate ranks as one of the highest in the world (86%) (UNDP Rwanda, 2018). However, the widespread informal job market, coupled with insufficient low-income and poor-quality housing, shape the everyday reality of Rwandan women. The NISR (2015) report classifies 73% of females as small scale farmers and 10% as farmers who get paid a wage. By comparison 37% of males are small scale farmers, 12% waged farm work and 51% working in non-farm work. Men have benefited more from the growth in non-farm work and accounted for 75% of the estimated 590,000 increase in the number of wage non-farm workers between 2005/06 -2010/11 (AfDB, 2014). Whilst women seem to have high employment rates, the shift from rural to urban migration has left women behind working on unpaid farm work, whilst the men of the family try move to the capital, to look for more prosperous waged non-farm work.

4.5 Social Characteristics

This section focuses on the gender inequalities faced by Rwandans through the criteria proposed by the Social Institutional Gender Index (SIGI) (OECD, 2019). The SIGI index is a percentage ranking between 0% (very low score) to 100% (very high score) outlining the discrimination faced by women. Rwanda scores low compared to bordering countries, as of 2019 its overall score as a country was 28%, compared to Uganda (45%), Tanzania (46%), DRC (40%) and Burundi (N/A).

Figure 4 Rwanda's Social Gender Index Scores (2019). Table 2 Summary of SIGI Categories (2019) Category Value Discrimination Family Code Discrimination in the 38% Medium 100% 80% family 60% Restricted physical 40% 21% Low Civil 20% Physical integrity Liberties 0% Integrity Restricted access to 26% Low productive and financial resources Resources Restricted civil Liberties 24% Low

Figure: SIGI score for Rwanda. Source: OECD, 2019 adaptations by author. Table: Rwanda GDI score breakdown :OECD, 2019 adaptations by author.

As the figure above outlines Rwanda scores low in three categories physical integrity, resources and civil liberties and medium in the discrimination in the family category. Discrimination in the family refers to household responsibilities, the SIGI report highlights that women perform a significantly higher share of the domestic work in the house and often face difficulties when accessing inheritance due to lack in poverty certificates and lack of understanding of rights (CEDAW, 2017). Legalities such as marriage and divorce are largely controlled and equal, polygamy is not lawful and often only practised in very rural areas of Rwanda (OECD, 2019).

The gender equality movement has come a long way since the control of Kagame, Kagame is one of 10 heads of states who is a Global Impact Champion for the HeforShe UN women-led campaign (UNDP Rwanda, 2018). During Kagame’s leadership Rwanda has been committed to steering towards gender equality and in a report by UNDP Rwanda (2018) they ranked Rwanda as the fourth best country at closing the gender gap. Rwanda followed Iceland, Finland and Norway (ibid.). Furthermore, the wage gap between women and men is lower in Rwanda than in many industrialized counties (88 cents per dollar) (ibid). It should be noted that in September 2018, 64% of the parliamentary seats were filled by females (The World Bank, 2019) showing high female state power.

During the genocide numerous schooling institutes were destroyed (two-thirds of the countries schools were none functional in 1994). Reconstructing the school system after this event was a difficult task however within the first decade after free elementary education was 43 introduced in 2003 the country impressively reached nearly full participation in elementary education. Despite this promising picture there are still many problems with the school system in Rwanda. Early childhood education has limited access and classrooms are overcrowded, access also remains unequal between urban and rural divides and repetition rates remain high. According to the national statistics 32% of Rwandans are unable to read and write as enrolment rates in secondary and higher education are low, despite introduction of free education until grade 9 in 2007. Sub-optimal funding levels also affect the quality and provision of education (only 11% of total government budget goes on education). Expenditure on education has fallen from 4.9% of GDP in 2013 to 3.2% in 2017, the sub- Saharan Africa average is 4% (WENR, 2019).

Rwanda is one of the few African countries to introduce a nationwide health care insurance scheme known as mutuelles de santé or mutuelles. In 2004, participation accelerated for the ‘Mutuelle de Sante’ scheme as national policy was rolled-out with financial and technical help from development partners. As of April 2008, every Rwandan is obliged by law to have some form of health insurance, this usually comes in the form of a card costing 3,000 RWF a year (approximately 3 euros). “Rwanda is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa in which 85% of the population participates in mutual insurance programmes for their health coverage,” said WHO’s Laurent Musango, former director of the School of Public Health at the National University of Rwanda.

4.6 Research Location

The research took place in Musanze, the North West Region of Rwanda. Ruhengeri (the largest city in Musanze) is expected to become one of Rwanda’s leading cities. Ruhengeri’s strategic location in the foothills of the Virunga Massif is attractive to agriculture thanks to the notably fertile land in the surrounding region and is currently experiencing rapid urbanisation. The population of this district is approximately 368,267 (3.9% of the total Rwandan population) (NISR, 2015). The research also spread to neighbouring districts, Burera, Rulindo and Byumba as shown on map below.

Figure 5 Map of Northern Province of Rwanda

Source: Mapsof.net (2020)

“In Musanze district, 79.9% of the population is identified as non-poor, 14.2% as poor and only 5.9% as extremely poor” (NISR, 2015, p. 5). In Musanze, just over a quarter of households are headed by females (27%), around two thirds headed by males (68%) and the remaining 5% are ‘de facto female-headed households’, i.e. in the absence of a normally present male, females are the head (NISR, 2015). These statistics play a vital part when understanding the role women play in society and especially when understanding vulnerability in patriarchal societies. Those households who are headed by women have shown higher rates of poverty and unemployment (AfDB, 2012). Almost 90% of female heads of household work in agriculture, which is a much more volatile market compared to 62% of male heads working in agriculture in this region (NISR, 2012).

4.7 Conclusion

This chapter summarized the research country by examining the economic, political and social development priorities of Rwanda. The chapter outlined Rwanda’s turbulent past from the civil war, to the genocide followed by a long and slow journey back to a united nation. This was shown to be in large part down to the current president Kagame and his efforts to put gender equality at the forefront of development. The economic characteristics of this chapter highlighted the exemplary economic progress Rwanda has experienced since the genocide. Rwanda has experienced falling rates due to Ubudehe poverty categories. 45

Rwanda’s social characteristics feature free primary education and the roll-out of countrywide health insurance cards. Finally, the research location of Musanze was established, within this region it was shown that females still participate in high level of subsistent and small-scale agricultural whilst men move to the capital to find more prosperous work.

5 Economic Capabilities

5.1 Introduction

This chapter provides a window into the selection process of 100WEEKS in Rwanda. The sub question that will be addressed in this chapter is: How were women selected for 100WEEKS and how does the weekly skills training help develop economic capabilities? In order to answer this question, Section 5.2 looks at the process of selection and actors involved. Section 5.3 acts an un-official eligibility criteria of beneficiaries looking at demographics, household assets, living standards and consumption. Based on all of this section 5.4 analyses whether 100WEEKS have successfully targeted the ultra-poor in society. Finally, section 5.5 breaks down the concept of economic capabilities through the Graduation Approach. This section specifically looks at dimensions such as entrepreneurship and financially literacy which were outlined in the key concepts in 2.5.5 and 2.5.6.

5.2 100WEEKS Selection Process in Trying to Target the Ultra-Poor

100WEEKS disregard the definition of Ubudehe categories as an accurate selection process for 100WEEKS beneficiaries. As believed by one of the 100WEEKS staff the Ubudehe categories can too quickly place households into the wrong category. The staff member further went on to mention that another common occurrence in Rwanda is the tip-off of families through nepotism, those who have control over categorising households can determine which category families get put in. In order to avoid misrepresentation in Ubudehe categories 100WEEKS seek the advice of the local parish leader to select the most vulnerable women in the community. The local parish leaders have knowledge of most if not all the families currently living in their parish. According to the 100WEEKS staff member parish leaders have a more objective ground level insight into who the most vulnerable are in society and are considered to be a better selection process than Ubudehe Categories. Whilst parish leaders seemed a more reliable selection process it has been shown that nepotism amongst parish leaders is possible. Gifford (1995) found that “in some parishes the church itself is fully integrated into the system of corruption that benefits a select few within society by exploiting the masses” (p. 204).

5.3 Demographics

5.3.1 Age

The age criteria of 100WEEKS is between the ages of 20 to 40, with the exception of one 18- year-old.The mean age of all beneficiaries with complete data at the baseline survey is 32 years (baseline data (BD), n=347).

5.3.2 Education of Beneficiaries and their Children

The standard of education of female beneficiaries is low. The table below shows school attendance of beneficiaries at the baseline survey, the table highlights the limited education received by most of the beneficiaries. Only 1 in approximately 10 beneficiaries have been able to attend any form of education higher than primary school. Having only primary education would make it extremely difficult to access any job in the formal market with an employment contract and hourly wage.

Table 3 School Attendance of 100WEEKS beneficiaries (n=347)

Frequency Percent No Schooling 29 8.4 Pre-primary (Nursery) 17 4.9

Primary 257 74.1 Secondary 40 11.5 Tertiary 1 .3 Vocational 3 .9

Total 347 100.0

Source: 100WEEKS Baseline Data Adapted by Author (2020)

Marriage and early pregnancy are also a primary reason why many women stop studying and drop out of school. For a number of poorer families, daughter’s education is still not seen as an investment. Some poorer households only view the daughter’s as an asset for her husband’s household (Bayisenge, 2010). Early marriage can often be a large contributor as to why women get low levels of education. Many women want to continue in education but have to start working to earn money for the family. When completing the baseline survey, enumerators were asked to make any additional comments on the beneficiaries life, some of the observations were as follows: “her and her husband live together at age 14” (BD Group 10), “got pregnant in high school she dropped which leads to her misery” (BD Group 10), 48

“got pregnant at 16 and she lives with her parents” (BD Group 10). This highlights the prevalence of early marriage and pregnancy within 100WEEKS beneficiaries. Low education can be seen to persist through generations, for families it is not only schooling costs that need to be covered, in order for a child to go to school parents need to also pay for uniforms, books, stationery and school dinners. One beneficiary said, “I have five kids, four who attend school, the big burden is the two kids who are in secondary school because in Rwanda at secondary school they have to eat at school, and that means I have to pay. For us we pay in terms of instalment because at full time it might be like 10,000 which we don’t have” (Informal Conversation (IC) from BD)

5.3.3 Household Assets

Many beneficiaries own their own house or have been given a place to live through a “samaritan” or through a family member (BD, Group 10). BD shows that 91.1% of beneficiaries have their own house, 4% are caretakers and 4.9% live in rented accommodation (n=347). Alongside this many beneficiaries own their own plot of land for self-sufficient farming (i.e. less than 0.25 hectares) (63.1% have user rights to their own plot, 11.2% have user rights to more than one plot of land and the remaining do not own or have rights to a plot of land) (BD, n=347). Despite having user rights to their own land beneficiaries in the focus groups state that they cannot make use of this land because they can’t afford fertiliser “before the project I was poor I had a small plot of land, but I was not able to get the fertiliser …” (FGD3). Beneficiaries say that they used to ‘beg’ to borrow animals from neighbours or community members to look after and in return are paid in fertiliser.

5.3.4 Living conditions

Table 4 Material of Floors (n=347) Image 1 Picture Taken During Baseline of Beneficiary’s Home

Frequency Percent Beaten earth 292 84.1 Bricks 4 1.2 Cement 30 8.6

Clay tiles 2 .6 Dung hardened 14 4.0 Other 5 1.4 Wooden floor 347 100.0 Total 292 84.1

Table 5 Material of Internal Roof (n=347) Table 6 Material External Walls (n=347)

Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Concrete 2 .6 Cement blocks 7 2.0 Metal sheets/corrugated iron 248 71.5 Mud bricks 182 52.4 Mud bricks with cement (stucco) 60 17.3 Other 9 2.6 Wooden sticks/branches with 69 19.9 Plastic/plywood/impermanent 3 .9 mud materials Wooden sticks/branches with mud & 14 4.0 Thatch/leaves/grass 4 1.2 cement Other (bricks, stones, wooden 15 3.4 Tiles, clay 81 23.3 planks) Total 591 100.0 Total 347 100.0

Source: Tables created by Author from Baseline Survey Data

The tables above paints a picture of the living conditions of 100WEEKS beneficiaries. The tables highlight the materials of the floor, roof and internal walls. The tables indicate that many rural houses in Rwanda consist of a beaten earth floor, metal sheets or corrugated iron roofs and mud brick walls. The house shown on the top right hand side was one of the beneficiaries houses which was built on problematic ground. Areas of the Northern Province of Rwanda are becoming more at threat from water rising from low-land swamps. During the baseline survey data collection the resident explained how she was being forced to move house by the government as her house was no longer considered to be on stable foundations. The resident explained that she had no land certificate as it cost 30,000RWF and as a result was not entitled to any government compensation for moving (IC from BD).

5.3.5 Consumption

The graphs below highlight how well the beneficiaries are coping in relation to consumption. The charts below highlight how many times in a month beneficiaries and household members go without; food, water, fuel for cooking and regular income.

Figure 6: Times in a Month Household Went Without Food (n=347) Figure 7: Times in a Month Household Went Without Water (n=347)

always or most always or most of the time of the time 8% 4% never or almost 27% never or almost 19% never never 56% rarely 52% rarely 17% 17% sometimes sometimes

Figure 8: Times in a Month Household Went Without Fuel (n=347) Figure 9: Times in a Month Household Went Without Regular Income (n=347)

always or most always or most of the time of the time 3% 16% never or almost never or almost 1% 40% 33% never never 50% rarely rarely 33% 24% sometimes sometimes

Source: Tables created by Author from Baseline Data

The graphs highlights that roughly two thirds of beneficiaries go without enough food for their household. 32.3% of beneficiaries are able to eat 1 meal at the time of the baseline survey and 58.5% are able to eat two, the remaining 3 meals per day (n=347). This complies with Ubudehe category 2, only able to afford one or two meals per day. In comparison to category 1 beneficiaries are able to access food without assistance. Water can be accessed by public taps and then boiled, according to the National Institute of Statistics for Rwanda (NISR) 85% of Rwandans have access to safe drinking which is within 30 minutes walking distance (NISR, 2016). Fuel to cook food consists mostly of firewood (94.2% of beneficiaries) which can be easily accessed. Cash income was the most problematic for 51 beneficiaries to access, approximately 20% of beneficiaries said they would go without cash income ‘always or most of the time’. Around half of beneficiaries reported that they sometimes went without cash income in their household. This draws attention to the abilities of women and their household members being able to bring in a steady income and being financially secure to consume above the poverty line.

In regard to consumption, an aspect worth mentioning is household size. The table below outlines how many additional household members the beneficiaries have, the larger the household the higher the consumption line needed to feed, clothe and educate the family members.

Table 7 Frequency of Beneficiaries Household Members (n=347)

Frequency 0 15 1 16 2 58 3 81 4 72 5 55 6 36 7 7

Source: Table created by Author from Baseline Data

The average household size in Rwanda is 3.4 (NISR, 2015) this similar to the baseline survey data (Mean = 4). The baseline data strongly suggested that the difficulty of beneficiaries situation is exacerbated if a household member is sick, absent or has an addiction (especially to alcohol). When reporting the greatest challenged face, sick-ness or disease is often mentioned as a determinant to income and consumption. When asked if the beneficiaries receive any financial help from the government one of the 100WEEKS staff replied, “no all our beneficiaries have never been given any kind of social protection from the government because they are not in the category to be given, or very few of them are in that category” (I00WEEKS staff interview)

5.4 Have the Ultra-Poor Been Targeted?

Table 11 in appendix 2 outlines the difference between poor and ultra-poor people in Rwanda based on three freedoms: economic freedom, social opportunity and protective freedom. The table compares the difference between categories based on observation and interpretations by the author. Using the analysis above and government definitions it can be shown that 100WEEKS fail to reach the ultra-poor. This is based on the theoretical definition that the ultra-poor are ‘destitute’ (Devereux, 2003) and the Ubudehe category one definition, the ultra-poor are homeless and unable to access food without assistance. When looking at whether beneficiaries can cope in terms of these facilities many beneficiaries have some level of primary education, own their own home and half can access income sometimes. However due to the constructivist approach used in this research beneficiaries should be categorised not only on the basis of quantitative data but also on the basis of personal accounts. Harriss-White (2002) defined destitution as a process which “requires the loss of insurance mechanisms - notably savings and credit - with which the members of a household (or a social unit larger than a household) protect themselves from these ratcheting events or shocks to consumption” (p. 2). During FGDs beneficiaries explained that before the project they would often beg family friends and neighbours for food (FGD1), this brought shame to the women and undermined their self-worth. Lawson et al. (2010) highlighted that these social relations are paramount for the survival of ultra-poor people and those who have good relations can recover quicker from unforeseen shocks. However, it entirely depends on the consistency of this relational help as one day a hand can be offered the next refused (ibid.). It should be highlighted that categories under-targeted by 100WEEKS include: the elderly and people with disabilities.

There is as an acknowledgement that for the project to be successful in the long-run purely beyond consumption purposes, beneficiaries need an “entrepreneurial spark” (100WEEKS staff member). During an interview is was noted “as 100WEEKS we just deal with the ones who are active who are doing some activity productive activity but who are lacking some financial support and who are being short of capacity, but they have some kind of initiative” (100WEEKS staff member). This brings us on to the economic capabilities that 100WEEKS aims to advance through weekly training sessions.

5.5 Economic Capabilities

100WEEKS aim to build up economic capabilities of the beneficiaries through the weekly skills and training component of the project. The following section outlines the economic capabilities 100WEEKS build up, the two main dimensions are entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

100WEEKS aim to build up economic capabilities in the beneficiaries by adapting and implementing the Graduation Approach. The Graduation Approach focuses on delivering a set of four components: social protection, livelihoods promotion, financial inclusion and social empowerment. The diagram below highlights the four Graduation Approach pillars in the context of 100WEEKS (BRAC, 2019).

Figure 10 Graduation Pillars Applied to 100WEEKS, Rwanda

• Income generating • VSLA • 1 coach assigned to 20 beneficiaries for activities formulated in 100WEEKS weekly training • 8 Euro sessions • Individual & group groups unconditional business models • Enumerator talking cash transfer for • Financial diaries about challenges and 100WEEKS • Training on family problems faced planning, parenthood, • Financial literacy training • Groups of 20 nutrition, hygiene and sanitation • Personal leadership training

Social Protection Livelihoods Promotion Financial Inclusion Social Empowerment Source: Interpretation of FGDs, IC and 100WEEKS meetings, figure created by author

5.5.1 Entrepreneurship

Many of the beneficiaries already have a business before entering the project, the table below shows the distribution of jobs before the project.

Table 8 Occupations of Beneficiaries at Baseline (n=347)

Frequency Percent Day labourer 16 4.6 Farmer not on own land 78 22.5

Farmer on own land 53 15.3 Farmer, crops on own land 3 .9 Farmer, crops on rented land 5 1.4 Market vendor 96 27.7

No occupation 3 .9 Other 20 5.8 Shopkeeper 5 1.4 Street vendor 68 19.6 Total 347 100.0

Source: Table created by Author from Baseline Data

The table highlights that just over 50% of beneficiaries either work as a market or street vender at the time of the baseline, it should also be noted that only 0.9% of beneficiaries have no occupation.

5.5.2 Covering Basic Needs

The 100WEEKS staff talk about the women starting the project with tunnel vision, during an onboarding session one of the 100WEEKS staff referred to the beneficiaries mind as a jail, saying you need to break out of jail. This reflects Berner et al. (2012) survival entrepreneurship outlined in section 2.6.5.

“Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?” beneficiaries were asked in FGDs. One beneficiary replied, “I am interested in becoming an entrepreneur because I am doing something with sorghum, with sorghum I am able to do anything …” (FGD2). Beneficiaries in the focus groups overwhelming believed that being an entrepreneur would allow them to do ‘anything’, however the following explanation of anything included; giving capital to her 55 husband, buying food for her home and clothes for her children (FGD2) i.e. covering basic needs. All beneficiaries who were at least 50 weeks into the project said that they could cover basic needs (FGD1: FGD2).

5.5.3 Investing in Assets

Entrepreneurship in Rwanda can be seen as diversifying beyond subsistent agriculture and investing in assets. 100WEEKS gives beneficiaries the capital for diversification. During FGDs assets were referred to as property, land or animals. It became clear during FGDs that investing in one kind of asset was not enough to secure a stable income, women highlighted the need for having multiple sources of income due to market fluctuations and unexpected shocks. Beneficiaries thought the only negatively aspect related to entrepreneurship was negative financial shocks. As there is no written price in the market or market regulation the beneficiaries mention that the price in the market will fluctuate. One beneficiary said “it depends on the period, when there is the period of harvest here … the price decreases. When sorghum is still growing, there is a price increase of course, because demand for sorghum is high” (FGD2). This would ultimately have large negative income effects on those women who are only selling one kind of produce. Another unexpected shock mentioned during the FGDs was rainfall, many beneficiaries had lost entire fields of crops due to unexpected weather conditions. Beneficiaries mention that currently interaction with the government is minimal. However, a future entrepreneurial limitation could be related to paying taxes. The beneficiaries explain that expansion beyond a certain point would result in small/medium enterprise tax (FGD1) which actually might make their financial situation worse off.

5.5.4 Empowerment

Empowerment in women has emerged as a major benefit of female entrepreneurship in Rwanda. One beneficiary exclaimed, “I feel like I can do good things for my family and take care of my children well and this makes me feel empowered” (FGD2). The money that the women receive alongside the weekly training make the beneficiaries feel “educated” and “developed”. “The money that I got from the 100WEEKS project is helping to help me be more courageous with my entrepreneurship” (FGD2). Thus, the women found value in their self through entrepreneurship.

When asking beneficiaries what they thought was so good about 100WEEKS one beneficiary replied “I think the thing that makes me so happy in this project is because this project helps women. Here in Rwanda to see a successful women with many thoughts with much money is a big problem and it’s usually men who have the money. So, the reason that I am happy for this project is that they come and take the women who are able to run a small business and then improve them….. Here when a women wants to be successful she goes in the town and everyone hear feels like she is being a prostitute” (FGD5). This shows that empowerment of women is only possible if society constraints allow it, fortunately in Rwanda gender equality has drastically improved since the start of the century allowing women to take their place within society.

During onboarding meetings 100WEEKS staff tell the benefixiaries that they need to be the “head of the household and the heartbeat of the home” (Onboarding Meeting). Buvinic et al. (2013) found that in high fertility, agrarian economies, programmes for women farmers have more impact when interventions go hand in hand with access to quality family planning and reproductive health services. In order to combat this financial burden 100WEEKS offer family planning as one of the first lessons taught in the weekly training sessions.

5.5.5 Financial Literacy

Empowerment can also be achieved through investing in human capital. The women in 100WEEKS receive financial literacy to able them to have financial abilities such as budgeting, saving and debt management.

“Before the project we didn’t know how to manage the money we had, when the project come it helped us to widen our brains …” (FGD3).

The aim of the training is to develop financial literacy. Financial literacy is developed by providing beneficiaries with a financial diary. “The purpose of the financial diary is not only to share information on how the beneficiaries are being developed to the donors but also we want them to embrace the culture of planning and writing their expenses to write the expenses so that they do all their payments consciously” explained a staff member of 100WEEKS. “It is a culture that we do not have in Rwanda, it is a bad culture that we need 57 to change so we are encouraging beneficiaries to write in their book and to have that culture within their life” (100WEEKS staff member).

Many of the beneficiaries have access to Village Saving and Loans Associations (VLSA). Associations which have been helping vulnerable people to access credit. Approximately 42% of Rwandans have access to formal finance institutions (UNDP, n.d.) whereas baseline data shows that only 25.2% of beneficiaries have a bank account and 21.3% of other household members have a bank account, much lower than the country average. The remaining 53.5% of beneficiaries either did not possess a bank account or did not know if they had a bank account, this highlights the lack of financial knowledge of the beneficiaries. During FGDs beneficiaries were asked the benefits of a saving group compared to a bank account, one beneficiary replied, “we get to pay back these group loan little by little” (FGD1). The project encourages women to use the money given to form sort of banking cooperative within groups of beneficiaries.

Debt is common amongst 100WEEKS beneficiaries at the baseline stage due to a multiplicity of reasons. Whilst debt does not hinder the beneficiaries chances of getting into the project, the project aims to get debt to a manageable level. Having the burden of debt can have negative well-being impact, one beneficiaries talked about her debt before the project saying that the worry of paying rent continuously played on her mind and she could not sleep due to stress (FGD1). Beneficiaries agreed that could not think about the future without repaying their debt (FGD1). From the baseline data it was observed that a beneficiary “had to sell their house because of debts from saving group” (BD). Thus, one of the aims of the project is to continually monitor the size of the debt and only encourages debt to be taken for the purpose of investing in assets and not for the purpose of consumption.

5.6 Conclusion

This chapter outlined the selection process of 100WEEKS in actively trying to reach the poorest in society. 100WEEKS utilise the local knowledge of local parish leaders to provide a more objective guide rather than the government defined categories. 100WEEKS beneficiaries can be classified in terms of low education, under-utilised land and poor living conditions. Based on the above100WEEKS beneficiaries do not categorically belong to the poorest in society but due to many current and previous life situations, beneficiaries have had 58 to resort to begging to access basic needs. There is however an acknowledgment that the long term success of 100WEEKS is dependent on beneficiaries being active agents within society. 100WEEKS aim to develop economic capabilities to beneficiaries by providing them with a business accelerator. This chapter showed the development of economic capabilities such as the ability to cover basic needs, invest in assets and empower themselves. Throughout the project beneficiaries acquire financial literacy skills enabling them to save, budget and repay debt, potentially allowing some resilience to unexpected financial shocks.

6 Overall Well-Being

6.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to answer the sub question what do ultra-poor women consider to be well-being/ill-being and what are the unobservable mechanisms behind this concept? This chapter aims to contextualise the concept of well-being in Rwanda. Section 6.2 highlights the importance of material well-being, individually and collectively. Collective well-being includes the household and community. Section 6.3 highlights the importance of family, kinship and community which again can be seen in terms of individual and collective (household and communal) well-being.

6.2 Material Well-being

In order to understand well-being it is pertinent to understand the priorities of women in Rwanda. Material well-being is seen as a departure for all well-being dimensions to follow. There are three main aspects that material well-being impacts; individual well-being, collective well-being as a household and collective well-being as a community.

Beneficiaries were asked what they consider to be well-being. As FGDs went on this was conveyed to beneficiaries as a ‘healthy and happy mind’. One beneficiary explained, “the time you can feel or the life that you don’t like is when you don’t have money but when you have money you are able to do everything you want” (FGD3). This was exemplified by another beneficiary, “the life I think that is a happy life or an enjoyable life for me is to have money for everything, for basic needs for clothes for insurance to be able to pay health insurance to buy something to eat” (FGD1). After running three focus groups on well-being having money overwhelming seemed the biggest determinant on whether someone had a good well-being. Money in this context does not just mean an income, money translates into so many other well-being dimensions, such as health (through purchasing health insurance), safe and secure environment to live in (home-repairs, mending holes in the roof), self-dignity and respect (purchasing clothes) (FGDs). In this context monetary needs can be seen as a foundation for well-ness in a subjective well-being framework (McGregor, 2007).

A significant number of the beneficiaries compared their well-being before the project to now through acquisition of animals and land ownership. “My mental health before the project was somehow different, before the project I worked hard but I didn’t develop myself and it 60 discouraged me so much, … but after the project I have money I have some of my own domestic animals so I think I am living in a better life now compared to the life before the project” (FGD4). Money as a means to happiness can be extended purely beyond consumption and into agency. Women show agency when they are able to use the money gained from investment in assets to re-invest in their business or provide for their household.

In many developing countries individuals or economic agents may act in a rational and cost- optimising manner as there is no other possible alternative. If in the short run a beneficiaries main concern is survival, it is possible that sub-optimal solutions will be perceived as effective at maximising well-being, for example for people living in extreme poverty, they are forced to work for sub-optimal wages or in sub-optimal working conditions just to survive (Pouw and McGregor, 2014). One of the beneficiaries explained her previous situation, “before the project I was lonely and the boss that I pay the rent for the sewing machine was harsh and gave me a scar on my arm and I was feeling like oh my god why are these people so harsh to me because I am poor …”. Well-being should thus also be seen as a way to maintain vitality and to thrive within harsh and challenging contexts (McGregor, 2007).

6.2.1 Household decisions

The social environment of one’s household is an important dimension of well-being. One beneficiary mentioned, “The bad mental state for me is that my husband can beat me or he can do something that I don’t want and he can discourage me to do what I am doing …” (FGD1). As argued by Kabeer (1996) women’s well-being can be increased based on the economic value they bring to the households and these improvements can increase women’s agency. During this discussion the beneficiary went on to say, “I can control my husband and myself and then what he is saying I can move on”. Whilst this can be seen as an individual change which takes place at the cognitive level, it could be contributing at the unobservable ideological level; that is to say that collective social beliefs, knowledge and social representations are being shared by members within a given context as ideologies about gender roles evolve (Sinola, 2020). The following figure shows that decision making of important purchases in the household are made jointly by the beneficiary and husband/partner (91% of the time).

Figure 11 Household Decision Making

0% N/A 1% 6% 2% Husband/Partner

Myself

Myself and my 91% husband/partner jointly Someone else in family

Source: Table created by Author from Baseline Data

When people are happy in society they tend to show more desirable characteristics especially in relation to work life (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). One of the 100WEEKS staff highlighted this process he said, “communities are the suppliers of products they are also the clients of their products, so they are having to be more involved in the community because it helps them exercise their business” (100WEEKS staff member). Collective growth in this instance is shown through expression of freedom and autonomy of the group (agency) and improved relations with other members of the group (communal) (Sinola, 2020)

6.3 Importance of Family, Kinship and Community

This section looks at the importance of women as a provider within the home, not only to their husband and children but to their kinship. Along with this security was mentioned as a way to feel safe within community.

Well-being goes beyond the scope of the individual and into collective well-being. “Women were identified and identified themselves as "homemakers," the keepers of the family, responsible for the well-being of their children and husbands.” (Narayan et al. 2000, p. 136). The beneficiaries in the focus group extend their sense of well-being to the condition of the family and especially to their children. “The worries that I have is that my children sleep at night without eating, now in this time I am in the project the project has been solved”. When asked what gives the women a sense of belonging one beneficiary replied, “the purpose I have is to pay for my children’s school fees …”. Many women feel a sense of belonging to 62 their family as they consider themselves the primary income provider of the household after receiving the unconditional cash loan. One women expressed that she will be able to use the loan to provide for her husband “when I have the plot I want to buy, my husband can come and help me to dig it so we can grow our business and when my husband wants to buy a bicycle I can give the money to him and he gets ready to buy that bike”. Women also express that children can be the only reason they still have motivation to be alive, “the reason I think I can be alive, to push me to be alive, my children, my children because I think because when I’m dead because how my children will grow, how will their husband treat them?”(FGD4).. Whilst women were asked about their personal well-being, they tended to speak about their children and husband instead.

Another important dependant includes kinship. Kinship was not explicitly mentioned but can be seen as an important extension of material provision. Gough and McGregor (2007) highlighted that “certain links, such as close kinship ties have a strong institutional element that exist relatively independent of any affective element or active celebration” (p. 168). Wood (2005) suggests that kinship add to social capital i.e. the collection of all structural relationships that an individual/household is engaged with. Thus beneficiaries may carry the burden of kinship provision weighing somewhat on well-being.

Security was only briefly mentioned by the beneficiaries when asked apart from money what else makes you or your family feel calm. In Rwanda security could be an interesting unobservable mechanism for collective well-being. Many of the beneficiaries have lived and survived through the genocide in 1994. The beneficiaries mentioned that they felt safe when they saw the army “every day the army is there ready” (FGD3). For women in Rwanda this improved their sense of security and hence their collective well-being within society. One beneficiary also talked about Rwanda noting “the thing that I feel grateful is the spirit of my country” (FGD3). All the women in FGD3 agree that they feel secure within their society.

Figure 12 Well-Being in Rwandan Women

Interpretation of FGDs by Author.

6.4 Conclusion

This chapter highlighted the two most important aspects of well-being in Rwandan women. Firstly beneficiaries consider money or an income as a source well-being. Thus, material well-being is seen as a fundamental dimension for overall well-being. Beneficiaries feel happy and healthy when they have ‘good’ material wealth, this can be seen through not only income but through the accumulation of assets; animals, land and property. Women also consider well-being to depend on those around them. Family and kinship have been shown to be a women’s responsibility to provide for. Women express that paying for education and making sure her children have a bright future contributes to her happiness and well-being. Alongside this beneficiaries appreciates the security that her community provides and allows for her and her family to feel safe.

7 Relational Well-Being

“Before poverty we were in a relationship with poverty but now we have no poverty” (B7)

7.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to analyse the contribution of economic capabilities on relational well- being in beneficiaries. The previous chapter outlined that material well-being acts as a pre- requisite for other well-being dimensions and that beneficiaries place a high importance on family, kinship and community for their well-being. Thus, it is pertinent to analyse the relationship beneficiaries have with important agents in their life. Section 7.2 looks at the relationship between a beneficiary and her husband, highlighting social marital expectations in Rwandan society. This section also analyses whether economic capabilities have any influence on relationship dynamics such as equality, trust and support. Similarly section 7.3 analyses relationships with family and section 7.4 analyses relationships with friends/ community members. Following this, section 7.5 analyses the contribution 100WEEKS has on loneliness in beneficiaries and in association the amount of inclusion they feel within their society (section 7.6). Finally. Section 7.7 analyses the overarching concept which ties all these relational well-being dimensions together i.e. sense of belonging.

The chapter aims to answer the following sub-questions: How do 100WEEKS beneficiaries perceive their relational well-being (individual, collective and over time)? a. Do beneficiaries attribute any change in relational well-being to the economic capabilities built up through 100WEEKS? b. How does relational well-being of beneficiaries compare to non- beneficiaries?

7.2 Marital Expectation

The first key relationship addressed in this chapter is between a woman and her husband/partner.

All beneficiaries interviewed were married. From the group of non-beneficiaries only one participant was not married and during an Informal Conversation (IC) one women had been left by her husband to raise their kids alone. In Rwanda, like many other Sub-Saharan countries, marriage is a sign of showing societal status and adulthood (Ruark et al., 2018) and can bring shame on a woman if she is left by her husband. During this IC, the women said “when you are in society and your husband leaves you it’s a shame on you. Society make you feel excluded. It’s Rwandan life when a husband leaves you in the house they start to say maybe you are someone who is in despair they say bad things about you and so they said bad things about me” (IC). If being left by a man brings shame on a women and a family, this could justify why many women feel like they have to stay in a ‘loveless’ relationship (ibid.). Money as a means can often create well-being trade-offs for ultra-poor people when it comes to priorities within relationship. As confirmed, Ruark et al. (2018) found in Rwanda both genders were likely to talk about love as a primary reason for formal/informal marriage but not explicitly the only reason. Social expectations, financial concerns and family pressures are other reasons to get married.

7.2.1 Relationship with Husband

On the surface many beneficiaries have seemingly few problems or conflicts with husbands/partners. When asked to describe their relationship with their husband eight out of twelve beneficiaries reported either “no problem” or that they live in “harmony”. Other responses included sharing accounts of their day with their husband after work, acknowledging conflicts sometimes happen but never lead to any harm and exchanging ideas about business and life. Only one beneficiary reported any kind of alcohol related issue, she said, “… sometimes there is a conflict and sometimes he drinks (alcohol) but overall we don’t have any problems”(B5).

Entrepreneurship developed during the project did not only benefit the beneficiary but also her husband. Sometimes a well-being trade-off can be experienced if a women has to be out 66 of the house more participating in business and not spending as much time in the household. However beneficiary accounts highlighted the cooperation of a beneficiary and her husband. Beneficiaries mentioned that their husband can help cultivate the land bought during the project or that they work together running their shop (B6). Thus beneficiaries and their husband spent more time together through the collaboration of business. Equality between husband and wife was expressed by eight out of twelve beneficiaries. Equality did not seem the most important relational aspect in a marital relationship, perhaps due to societal norms. Three beneficiaries said that the husband had control over the household decisions and two said that their husband had control over the money (other answers consisted of either both having control or purely the woman). This supports the argument in the previous chapter that the majority of women in Rwanda can exert autonomy in the household and either individually or collaboratively decide important household purchases with their husband. All but one beneficiaries felt like their husband supported them in life, with or without money (B4). The beneficiary who did not feel supported by her husband, was also the beneficiary who indicated that her husband drank (B5).

When non-beneficiaries were asked to describe their relationship with their husband, many answers were similar; “we are living good together” (NB1: NB3):, “no problem” (NB9: NB10: NB15: NB 16) and “we live happily together” (NB12: NB13: NB14) were among some answers. Love was mentioned once in the interviews with the group of women outside of the project. Two non-beneficiaries admitted feeling unequal to their husband however, despite some women feeling unequal to their husband all women felt a strong sense of trust and support. Similar to 100WEEKS beneficiaries, many women felt like they had autonomy in making household decisions, even if ultimately it was the husband who made the final decision, some women even referred to themselves as having full control. One woman after being asked who controlled the money laughed, “it’s me because I am the one who knows what is missing at home” (NB11).

Whilst the foundations of husband or partner relationship seemed strong from both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, these accounts could be deemed somewhat contradictory when looking into research conducted on intimate partner violence (IPV). In Rwanda, experience of physical or sexual violence from a husband or partner was estimated in 40% of marriages (NISR, 2015). Acceptance of IPV could prevent women from reporting IPV or leaving the relationship, and in a sample from Rwanda and Zambia around 81% of women 67 said they could find at least one reason a husband is justified in beating his wife (González- Brenes, 2003). This raises concern over the social desirability of answers given. Sensitive questions tend to be the most influenced desirability e.g. questions on conflict (He et al., 2014), women may feel pressured to blind-sight the relational trade-offs due to societal expectations and/or material well-being priorities.

7.2.2 Relationship with Poverty

Analysing the effect economic capabilities have on relational well-being predominantly shows that economic capabilities are associated with relieving tension within the household. The underlying mechanism behind this outcome is more about the social image a men portray to society.

It was confirmed by one of the 100WEEKS staff that lack of money can create tension in the household especially on the side of the man which can lead to conflict. 100WEEEKS staff highlighted that in Rwanda it as seen as shameful on a man if he cannot provide for his family (100WEEKS staff member). Seeing assets that the women had been able to invest in throughout the project (cow, goat, tailoring machine mentioned) brought happiness to a man (B5). Beneficiaries also reported that their husbands viewed them in a positive manner for getting in the project, one beneficiary said “my husband after the project told me I got you as a good wife who has a good heart because you joined the choir and you are a good Christian and that made you be chosen among other women” (B8). Thus women could be seen to improve their relational well-being due based on the approval of men.

The answers from the beneficiaries that stated there had been no change suggested that there had been no decline in cooperation (B12) or with the relationship only that both their lives had changed for the better (B1). There were no reports of the relationship deteriorating. Money or an income was the main reason for the change. Economic freedom in the household had made intra-household decisions easier and had removed some stress from within the household. One beneficiary said, “before it was just okay (marital relationship) because I can say that we don’t spend a night without talking about our problems…”. Money received from the project has had a direct impact on household conversations. Uncertainty within the household had also decreased as one beneficiary explained, “we are sure that each week we will be receiving a certain income, so there is an improvement of 68 stability in the relationship with my husband because of this money” (B2). From nearly all the accounts of beneficiaries it can be concluded that alleviating monetary tensions within a household creates space for a relationship to nourish and positively develop.

7.3 Relationship with family

Relationships between beneficiaries and family were overall stable and contact was frequent (at least once per month), if beneficiaries did not feel supported by their family it was because they equally had nothing to support them with or were too old. All women inside and out of the project said that they trusted their family. Seven beneficiaries said that being in 100WEEKS had changed their relationship with their family, the reasons given were similar to how the relationship had changed with their husband. The beneficiaries said that the project had improved the relationship due to financial capacity and that they had the capability to care and provide for their families beyond themselves and immediate household. In Africa a successful person can be scrutinized by social mores if they fail to redistribute resources to their extended family (Narayan, 2007). Spending money on their family was part of the priority from the UCT, thus heightening their sense of belonging to their kinship and extended family.

Two non-beneficiaries reported complete dependency on family (or in-laws) as they currently resided in their in-laws kitchen. Similar to non-beneficiaries many beneficiaries had previously received money from their family members as a form of support or had been shown support in the form of food and advice. Relating back to the theory on relational help once more questions the categorisation of 100WEEKS beneficiaries as Altaf (2019) categorised ultra-poor as rarely being able to rely on families during difficult times due to lack of support thus, showing more dissonance between beneficiaries and ultra-poor people.

7.4 Relationships with friends

Some women had lots of friends, some had few friends, but none had no friends. This section looks at the complicated relationship between beneficiaries and their friends, also described as neighbours/ community members.

Support offered by friends consisted mainly of advice, or food as opposed to money which would more likely be given by a family member, this was also seen in non-beneficiaries. One woman said, “… they can only help me in just giving me some advices and helping in the household” (NB12). Only some beneficiaries said that they felt supported by their friends whereas most non-beneficiaries felt supported. One non-beneficiaries said that friends would discourage the woman from working, another woman saying that some of her friends were not happy for her when she succeeds and leave her behind (NB8). When asking the beneficiaries if the project had changed their relationship with their friends one beneficiary said, “actually it’s not that they hate me, but they told me the relationship has been changed they are no longer touching me” (B4). Similar to the women outside of the project not all friends were happy seeing their friends develop, one beneficiary explained “…they do support me, but some are jealous because I am in the project”(B1). Jealousy was a recurrent theme in the interviews with beneficiaries and is noted as one of the biggest relationship changes that has occurred between beneficiaries and friends.

7.4.1 Trade-off with Trust

100WEEKS beneficiaries expressed that the 100WEEKS project had in some way complicated the relationships with friends/neighbours or community members because of trust. Economic capabilities can create a of jealousy many beneficiaries did not trust their friends, in comparison to all the women not in the project who trusted their friends. Some beneficiaries mentioned that they had purposefully not mentioned to friends that they had entered into the programme. Jealousy was not a topic mentioned lightly in Rwanda, one beneficiaries reported that their animals had been ‘poisoned’. She recalled her story, “at the end of one year in the project I bought a cow and the peoples one of the community the neighbours they poisoned my cow and my cow died . I bought that cow for 260,000 Rwandan Franc . so it was a difficult time when the cow died …” (B7). Another beneficiary recited her story saying her neighbours killed seven of her goats, she now had eight goats but should have had fifteen, she also said that in the time when her goats were killed she felt alone (B12). Long periods of sadness were correlated with times when dimensional trade-offs had been experienced i.e. greater material well-being was counteracted by lower relational (loss of trust in friends) and cognitive well-being (sadness after death of animals). However, in general, beneficiaries did not seem overly distressed when asked how they cope with jealousy. Many simply said that they would ignore the person or treat them exactly the same. 70

One beneficiary said, “I just try to ignore it and I just show them that I respect them even though I am being helped by the project I am just the same”(B11).

7.4.2 Genocidal Ideology

Unintended negative community spill-overs have been witnessed in other cash transfer programmes, jealousy tension and erosion of formal support noted in a few (Oduro, 2015; Onyango-Ouma and Samuel, 2012) however the extent which jealousy manifests (i.e. killing of animals) seems largely unique to Rwanda.

Given Rwanda’s complicated and brutal past it is crucial to look at whether this jealousy stems culturally from the genocide. Andre & Platteau (1998) found that shortly after the genocide people who were endowed with a lot of land were at higher risk of dying and even after the genocide some Rwandans would still argue that genocide was necessary for population and land resource management. Uvin (1998) did not agree directly that land scarcity and lack of farm work opportunity explained how the genocidal violence spread so quickly however, he did state that ecological resource scarcity may have played a role in the conflict. The aftermath of the genocide is omnipresent and affects people’s interactions (ibid.). Studies have showed that the aftermath of political conflict breeds social disconnection, insecurity and distrust (Erinkveld, 2016).

To see if jealousy stems from purely materials and asset and/or land ownership the group of women outside of the project were asked if friends or people in the community were jealous.. Eight participants said they saw no jealousy from other people. The remaining nine participants said that some people are jealous of them but only in a situation whether they may be offered some kind of job or be given a plot of land. Further to this, there was only one mention of death to an animal after receiving a goat as gift for having her first child (NB7).

7.5 Loneliness and sharing problems

Despite having multiple supportive relationships many woman still stated that they felt lonely, this next section looks at loneliness and difficulty sharing problems experienced by beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.

Out of all the beneficiaries six stated that they felt lonelier before the project. It was interesting to compare 100WEEKS beneficiaries to non-beneficiaries when looking at loneliness. Loneliness in non-beneficiaries was felt by nearly all the women, mainly from overthinking about their problems alone or loneliness by comparing themselves to others and feeling like they will never achieve the same. One woman said, “sometimes I feel lonely, comparing myself to other looking at them and me I’m just suffering everyday yeah overthink about how people are living in a good condition and me I’m still like this” (NB7) this was also exemplified by another beneficiary who said, “sometimes the harm and fear you feel for the life you live in makes me feel lonely” (NB10). Many non-beneficiaries said that they would tell their problems to God firstly and then to their husband, few mentioned that they would tell their problems to friends. One beneficiary said, “yeah in this normal life we live in we may not live without friends but of course you cannot tell him or her your problems because they are not God. When you leave your clothes out you can tell your friends and then once it rains she can bring it in the house for me, but he or she is not God and can’t be told your problems” (NB14). Loneliness in beneficiaries was reportedly lower. This negative cognitive and relational well-being barrier was not highlighted in the conceptual scheme but will be added in as follows:

Figure 13 Adaptation to Conceptual Scheme

Source: Interpretation of Interviews with Beneficiaries and Non-Beneficiaries

Friendship within the project was vital for curbing loneliness. During an FGD a beneficiary said, “apart from money what makes me happy is the women in this project, they are my best friends we help each other we share our problems …”(FGD3). Another beneficiary said that she was now godmother to of one of her friends in the project and that they all meet up 72 outside of the project (B2). This strong support system is a key determinant to the success of the project and relational well-being improvement. This sentiment was re-confirmed by a 100WEEKS staff member, during an IC he talked about women not being able to share their problems so openly before the project but now they would call him up and call him ‘Brother’ and proceed telling him their problems.

7.6 Inclusion in society

Another reason for loneliness could be due to the exclusion faced by beneficiaries before the project.

Money is enabler when it comes to feeling included in society. All beneficiaries felt more included in society than before the project began.. Money had enabled beneficiaries to develop a sense of self-worth (through not looking poor in the clothes they were wearing) or through having confidence to be able to exercise their voice. One woman exclaimed “now it is incredible and overwhelming I collaborate with people and we have fun”(B8). Many beneficiaries felt more respected in society and that their voice was heard and valued. Narayan (2007) said that “those with money can voice their opinions and command social respect, even claim political leadership” (p.140). Thus, economic capabilities through a sense of empowerment had enabled beneficiaries to be able to speak out in front of people, this was exemplified by one beneficiary who explained she was now the village vice president (B8).

7.6.1 Attendance of Social Events

One noticeable comparison between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was the confidence and ability to attend social events like weddings and funerals. Non-beneficiaries felt like they could not attend if they did not have a contribution to provide however the underlying nature of this stems from an inferiority complex. Non-beneficiaries did not feel comfortable and equal within society. Non-beneficiaries reported that by not giving a gift it made them feel inadequate and ashamed (NB11). Saving groups also provide another form of inclusion in society. All beneficiaries in 100WEEKS said they had more access to saving groups through the project, many disclosing the difference in amounts of saving before the project and now. Beneficiaries reportedly saved in a number of different groups along with her husband This 73 can be seen as a collective synergy between material and cognitive well-being within a household.

7.7 Sense of Belonging

Relational well-being was improved due to an overall sense of belonging.

The underlying mechanism which improved overall relational well-being in beneficiaries was a sense of belonging. Having a sense of belonging was evident through the capabilities built up through the project. One beneficiary said that her sense of belonging was because she was progressing in life and could see some kind of achievement within herself (B3). The economic capabilities gained from the project had given the beneficiaries motivation to keep investing and pass the wealth down to their children. Economic capabilities built up also require the beneficiary to have a sense of belonging to community. Beneficiaries can ultimately see their worth as a functioning individual within society. Developing a business has provided beneficiaries with a chance to see development in all aspects of their life, they are free from relationships with poverty, shame and self-exclusion from social events and can exercise their voice and agency.

7.8 Relational Well-Being Summary

Figure 14 Visual Representation Relational Well-Being

Source: Interpretation of Interviews with Beneficiaries and Non-Beneficiaries

Figure12 is a visual representation of relational well-being in beneficiaries and non- beneficiaries. Arrows coming to and from economic capabilities represent the causal relationship attributed to economic capabilities built up through 100WEEKS. The purple boxes represent cognitive well-being dimensions, oranges boxes represent highlighted associated with key relationships in interviews and the red box highlight contradictory spill over effects. The shaded areas represent the overall impact that different combinations of relational well-being dimensions.

In Appendix 3. table 12 has been created summarising the analytical difference between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries to address sub-section b).

7.9 Conclusion

This chapter highlighted the synergy of material and relational well-being. In section 7.2 and 7.3 it was highlighted that UCTs and economic capabilities built up through 100WEEKS significantly improve marital relationships and lessen dependency on family support. Analysis showed that building economic capabilities improved individual relational well- being (through the inclusion within society and increased social support) however it complicated collective well-being shown through jealousy. The generalisability of this finding is questionable to other countries due to the remaining genocidal ideologies which persist in Rwanda.

Compared to the group of non-beneficiaries 100WEEKs beneficiaries feel less lonely overall. Beneficiaries feel able to attend social events and have more access groups through the project. Beneficiaries sense of belonging vastly contrasted to the group non-beneficiaries as beneficiaries felt like they had more of a sense of belonging. This was highlighted through a belonging to new friendships within 100WEEKS, development of self and business and responsibility to extend the money received to provide for their husband and family. This was felt above and beyond the non-beneficiaries seemingly stable relational well-being. However it should be noted that this chapter was highly susceptible to social desirability bias.

8 Cognitive Well-being

“I never want to go back to where I came from” (B2)

8.1 Introduction

This chapter analyse how the build-up of economic capabilities contribute to cognitive well- being in beneficiaries. In previous chapters material well-being has been shown to synergise with relational well-being, however this chapter aims to isolate cognitive well-being dimensions whilst observing any well-being overlaps. Section 8.2 outlines beneficiaries depressive symptoms, happiness and self-belief before the project up until date. Section 8.3 analyses the present life satisfaction in beneficiaries and section 8.4 analyses the future.

The chapter answers the following sub-questions: How do 100WEEKS beneficiaries perceive their cognitive well-being (individual, collective and over time)? a) Do beneficiaries attribute any change in cognitive well-being to the economic capabilities built up through 100WEEKS? b) How does cognitive well-being in beneficiaries compare to non- beneficiaries?

8.2 Journey from the Past to Present

During interviews beneficiaries were asked to contrast their present state of well-being to their well-being before the project began. This section explores the present well-being state of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries over time.

8.2.1 Depressive symptoms

Feelings of depression and mental pain are common in ultra-poor women especially when they have the responsibility of looking after young children (Pearlin & Johnson, 1977). Using depression as an indicator can be shown to explain acute and chronic psychological well- being (Haushofer and Shapiro, 2016). Within this research it should be noted that questions regarding depressive symptoms were clearly mis-understood by beneficiaries in FGDs. This highlights the lack of discussion regarding depression or the stigma of discussing depression 77 within group a setting in the context of Rwanda. Erinkveld (2016) found in Rwanda, similar to other Sub-Saharan countries depression and other mental health issues still do remain scarcely discussed and still taboo. In Rwanda any expression of excessive emotion in public is considered a sign of weakness and madness (ibid., p. 35). Thus during interviews depression was referred to as prolonged periods of sadness or periods of negative emotion.

Depressive symptoms had been experienced by nearly all of the women, the majority of answers from interviewees centred around accidents, family conflict, sickness or death in the family. One women admitted having a long period of sadness after having a miscarriage (NB13). Another beneficiary expressed her pain when she believed she could not fall pregnant after trying for one year (NB9). This suggests that women only feel able to express depressive symptoms after a significant life event has occurred. Few woman spoke about depressive symptoms in relation to everyday life, but in the few times it was mentioned by non-beneficiaries it focused on lack of basic needs, in-accessibility of medical insurance health-cards and money for children’s school fees (i.e. low economic freedom and social opportunity). Being restricted to only sharing feelings in the need for a life event can often magnify the issue, as everyday hardships stay trapped inside the individual, becoming a vicious cycle.

Common indications of depression can stem from sleeping patterns, either through lack of sleep (insomnia) or constant sleep usually driven through lack of motive. This section compares sleeping patterns in beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries and sleeping patterns in the past. Out of the group of non-beneficiaries, 12 out of 17 said that they had problems going to sleep, one explained her problem stemmed from grief after the passing of one of her siblings (NB16). The other women explained that she currently finds it difficult to sleep due to ‘overthinking’. In comparison, beneficiaries from 100WEEKS all reported that they currently experienced no problems whilst sleeping, whereas before the project seven beneficiaries talked about difficulties of overthinking, similar to non-beneficiaries. Beneficiaries stated that they slept better, not worrying about poverty and persistent worry over covering basic needs.

Loss of appetite and lack of work contradicts economic capabilities, lack of hope and depressive feelings brings about passive behaviours in ultra-poor people. It becomes fruitless for people to change their situation, thus there is no motivation to build up an enterprise or continue developing. Franzblau and Moore (2001) developed this into self-efficacy theory, 78 they highlighted that “the belief’s in one’s efficacy conveys messages about the power to make things happen for oneself” (p. 84). Thus low self-efficacy due to depressive symptoms can inhibit women’s economic capabilities.

Depression was briefly touched on during an interview with a staff member from 100WEEKS staff. He said, “so when we are doing the baseline you can find a women who is unhappy who has some depression, let me not go as far as depression but they have many financial problems and they may not be able to tell you exactly what the problem is. I don’t know the correct word, but they are not happy at all, so when you talk to her in the first weeks it looks like she even fears to tell you what the problem is …”(100WEEKS staff member). This viewpoint can strengthen the argument from the previous chapter arguing that before the project beneficiaries struggle to express and explain financial problems and keep feelings within. This can be seen as a negative overlap of all three well-being dimensions, leading to a state of ill-being in the past.

8.2.2 Happiness

Happiness was expressed in terms of current life level and beneficiaries were asked how their current happiness level compared to their past level of happiness. All exclaimed that their happiness had changed, and many explained that it had changed significantly and had continued to grow over time, as the project progressed. One beneficiary said that she felt sad and helpless but now she feels like a completely new person in relation to her level of happiness (B11). The project seemed to be a turning point in many women’s lives, one beneficiary said, “I can say that my first happiness started when after getting the first money on the phone from 100 Weeks that’s when my happiness feeling started” (B7).

An economic capability that brought noticeable happiness to beneficiaries was financial literacy. One beneficiary stated, “What brought happiness to me is the money I was given, and it was the teachings about how to use the money other things I didn’t know I didn’t know how to save now I know how to save before I used to get money and the money used to go through my fingers …” (B8). The underlying mechanism behind increase in happiness was two-fold; firstly self-efficacy by having the belief-system that they can determine their happiness through their economic capabilities and secondly agency, being able to make the financial choice to act towards their material wealth and continuous happiness. 79

When asking non-beneficiaries to rate what they thought was their current level of happiness, there were varying levels of happiness. When expressing topics surrounding loans, loneliness or hunger woman reported happiness to be on a very low level. Happiness in beneficiaries was described in the days when her husband gets a job (NB2) or when she has enough food to eat that day (NB14).Women exemplified that God contribute a lot towards their happiness. Passivism in non-beneficiaries was highlighted throughout interviews, the belief-system that their current life they live in is the only life, they become dis-illusioned that God is the only source that can contribute to happiness. This is also witnessed in the case study in Bennin conducted by Altaf (2019).

8.2.3 Other Cognitive Emotions

Other emotions touched on but not explored in detail are outlined in table 9, these were asked to beneficiaries to provide a holistic view of overall cognitive well-being. Table 9 outlines the difference in emotions felt by beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries felt at the present moment in time.

Table 9: Attitude Towards Other Cognitive Emotions

Beneficiaries Control Group Yes Sometimes No Yes Sometimes No Do you have joy in your life? 100% 82% 18% Are you calm most of the 80% 20% 59% 29% 12% time? Are you hopeful? 100% 100% Do you feel helpless? 89% 11% 19% 62% 19% Are you angry at the world? 100% 24% 41% 35% Source: Interpretation of Interviews with Beneficiaries and Control Group

The results are presented in terms of the proportion of beneficiaries who said yes, no or sometimes in relation to the question asked. Answers were given on a self-determined scale, due to the constructivist nature of the research and answers given were interpreted by the author. The table shows that on average beneficiaries from 100WEEKS feel that they had a lot more joy, they feel calm most of the time, feel like they can help themselves and were not 80 angry at the world. In comparison many more women from the control felt anxious and helpless and felt angry at the world. One woman explained that the world meant nothing to her if her kids went to sleep hungry (NB10). The uniting feeling between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was that they all felt hopeful.

8.2.4 Self-belief

It is important to mention that participants self-image has a severe mental and emotional impact on them, the next chapter focuses on whether previous feelings of exclusion, depression and unhappiness have trapped beneficiaries in a state of experienced poverty.

Inefficacy as perceived by the individual, refers to thoughts of failure and feelings that can be retained if thoughts are controlled. A person with depressive symptoms begins with the inability to change self-defeating habits or thoughts (Franzbalu and Moore, 2001). Bandura (1997) referred to this a ‘dysfunctional self-evaluation systems’ (p. 345) which can be seen in theory in ultra-poor people. Beneficiaries were asked how they perceive themselves and how they thought others perceived them. Gough, McGregor and Camfield (2006) highlight that perceptions of ones-self are located in society and the frames of meaning which one lives in (p. 5). When asked what beneficiaries thought about themselves, beneficiaries talked about achieving many things within the project, achievement in; business, family life and well- being. When asked how do you think other people describe you? One beneficiary said, “others describe me as a joyful one” (B6). All beneficiaries perceived other people’s views to be positive and explained that other people have noticed the economic capabilities they have been building up through the project. One beneficiary stated, “they used to be like surprised how well they were saying like what happened to that women she is really developing” (B8), she expressed that this had influenced her self-belief and praised the project for helping her believe in herself.

Language used by non-beneficiaries of women was more negative in a few cases, but on the whole predominately positive. Descriptions of ones-self which were negative included describing themselves as a colourless women (NB2), someone who only works for others (NB1:NB2) or like a beggar waiting for help (NB3). On the other hand, many women described themselves as courageous and hard-working and striving for a better life, individually and for their family. Language also revolved more around being a good 81

Christian and praying a lot. In all cases if a women described herself in a negative way she also believed others described her in a negative way, and when a woman believed in her-self and talked positively she perceived other people to think of her positively. This shows a strong correlation between believed values and perceived values.

8.3 The Present - Life Satisfaction

It is pertinent to access a person’s cognitive well-being to deviation from a homeostatic place of satisfaction (Cummins, 2003). It is crucial to address life satisfaction in beneficiaries, to analyse whether beneficiaries have deviated from their homeostatic default. Thus this section will look at women’s current life satisfaction and satisfaction for the future.

Two beneficiaries reported that previously their life was not happy however they were now completely satisfied with their life and that they felt like they had all the important things in life. The economic capabilities had built a homeostatic level of satisfaction. Whereas, many beneficiaries and women from outside the project said that they were happy but not satisfied (this remains their homeostatic position). For women in the project many expressed satisfaction in regard to covering basic needs however, dissatisfaction was expressed in regard to not feeling accomplished enough with the economic capabilities they had gained from the project. Still beneficiaries felt they could ‘expand’, ‘develop’, ‘grow’ or ‘invest’ more in their business. Whereas life satisfaction in non-beneficiaries was low from not having all the important things in life, few broke-down and became emotional whilst discussing this topic during interviews.

8.4 The Future

The past and how you feel in the present shape your future, this section looks at future aspirations and the sense of optimism or pessimism felt by beneficiaries.

8.4.1 Future Aspirations

Future aspirations widen as the scope of capabilities becomes greater in people’s minds as self-belief increases. Many beneficiaries felt that they did not have the capability to have hopes and dreams before the project as the money increases so does the scope of the dream (B10). One beneficiary explained, “before the project I didn’t really have any dreams 82 because I thought I was poor and like this women she didn’t have the capacity to think” (B9). All beneficiaries said that their hopes and dreams had changed over time, noticing a difference before the project and now. The difference between beneficiaries hopes and dreams and non-beneficiaries was that their hopes and dreams were more tangible and achievable. In order of priority hopes and dreams took the following order:

Table 10 Ranking in Importance of Hopes and Dreams

Beneficiaries Non-Beneficiaries 1 Investing in Assets: Emphasis was Starting a business and Becoming predominantly put on land, for Successful/Rich : Woman believed cultivation, followed by animals that starting a business was the only way their life could improve 2 Expanding Business Beyond its Current Accessing Basic Needs: Primarily Capital food, clothes and education for kids 3 Helping Others: Beneficiaries explained Investing in Assets: Land and that they saw the opportunity to help Animals and buying a house family and friend as well as employing (currently living in mother-in-law more girls in business. kitchen) 4 Developing Family: Providing work or assets for husband and improving standard of living for family 5 Having Happiness Source: Interpretation of Interviews with Beneficiaries and Control Group

Ranking hopes and dreams enables some analysis to be drawn. Hopes and dreams of top priority in both groups were not surprisingly focused on material well-being. The monetary assistance of 100WEEKS has created the possibility to visualise material well-being into entrepreneurship capabilities, this presumes beneficiaries have the financial literacy to re- invest and build reserves. The following aspirational well-being dimensions were relational well-being, finally followed cognitive well-being as the 5th ranking from non-beneficiaries. Comparing beneficiaries to woman outside of the project beneficiaries described hopes and dreams in terms of being able to invest and expand, because they had already established a business, through the economic capabilities built up through the project. Beneficiaries hopes 83 and dreams were expressing desires for growth entrepreneurship rather than survival entrepreneurship (shown in non-beneficiaries), this supports the process shown by Berner et al. (2012) in section 2.6.5 in the theory.

8.4.2 Optimism/Pessimism

Surprisingly the majority of beneficiaries still felt worried for the future. The nature of worries for beneficiaries was due to sickness and the cost of children’s education however non-beneficiaries also had the additional worry of debt. However some beneficiaries close to finishing the project (around 80-85 weeks into the project) felt that the economic capabilities that they had built up through the project was sufficient to keep them developing their life and business. When asked as a concluding question if beneficiaries felt mentally free from poverty, one beneficiary explained, “I am able to do anything, and I know I can do everything and so I don’t feel trapped”. This would negate the underlying theory proposed by Rojas (2008) between the dissonance between material wealth and experienced poverty.

8.5 Cognitive Well-Being Summary

Figure 15 Beneficiaries and Non-Beneficiaries Cognitive Well-Being Network

Source: Interpretation of Beneficiaries/Non-Beneficiaries Interviews

Figure 14 depicts the visual representation between economic capabilities and cognitive well- being. This figure highlights the journey from low life-satisfaction to high life-satisfaction, through depressive symptoms, happiness and self-belief, aspects highlighted during interviews. When beneficiaries had a higher self-belief they are able to have the capacity to visualise aspirational and achievable dreams, this is shown by the clouds placed in between self-belief.

In order to address sub-section b) table 12 (shown in appendix 3) was created to highlight the difference in cognitive well-being between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.

8.6 Conclusion

This chapter highlighted cognitive well-being in beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Individual cognitive well-being was shown to focus on; depressive symptoms after a significant life event, happiness through asserting self-efficacy and financial agency and self- belief or through the belief-system that others consider you capable. Collective well-being of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was shown in the instance of a death, accident or sickness within the family. Looking at well-being over time showed that beneficiaries considered 100WEEKS to be the turning point in their lives, however beneficiaries did not feel significantly different about the future after the project compared to non-beneficiaries. Beneficiaries expressed that learning to save money had made their life ‘happy’. Alongside this beneficiaries expressed that having money allowed them the capacity to think. This was reflected in growth orientated future aspirations (e.g. investing assets and expanding business). There was a distinct difference in hopes and dreams of beneficiaries and non- beneficiaries as non-beneficiaries still focused on survival aspirations (e.g. starting a business and covering basic needs). When looking at the difference between groups this chapter highlighted the inability of both groups being able to express depressive symptoms caused by everyday problems. These everyday stressors associated with poverty resulted in non- beneficiaries lacking sleep and losing appetite. On the whole beneficiaries experienced higher levels of happiness and self-belief that women not in the project.

9 Discussion & Findings

9.1 Answering the Main Research Question

How do Unconditional Cash Transfer Loans combined with skills training lead to economic capabilities and contribute to cognitive and relational well-being of ultra-poor women in North West Rwanda?

The pertinent problem seen in many forms of development aid is the un-intentional and/or intentional mis-targeting of the ultra-poor in society. 100WEEKS strategy for targeting the ultra-poor is to use local parish leaders knowledge. The research highlights that by using theoretical and local definitions of ‘ultra-poor’ 100WEEKS do not reach the poorest in society, in we classify the ultra-poor as those living in destitution (i.e. no way to make money and no way to feed themselves). This is primarily due to the beneficiaries apparent visibility within society (through having some kind of pre-existing enterprise as a street vendor or market vendor) and the ability to ask for help from family, friends and community in times of unexpected financial shocks (relational support). However, the aim of 100WEEKS is not only on for consumption purposes but to build economic capabilities. Entrepreneurship observed in beneficiaries follows a survival entrepreneurship to growth entrepreneurship process. In the period when beneficiaries are survival entrepreneurs they are mostly concerned about covering their basic needs. During this time beneficiaries mainly focus on their family’s needs resulting in riskless entrepreneurship and lack of diversification this was shown Beyond covering basic needs beneficiaries start to invest in assets such as animals and land. Through this process beneficiaries start to build up economic facilities and social opportunity. Coupled with this beneficiaries developed financial literacy skills throughout the project. Beneficiaries have been able to practice budgeting through financial diaries and have been able to save money by accessing more saving groups. It was shown that saving groups have also been created within the groups of beneficiaries and beneficiaries have been able to include their husbands in saving groups as well.

Well-being as a concept is hugely contextual and is dependent on many factors. In this context material well-being was seen as a priority for all beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Beneficiaries highlighted the importance of investing in assets to increase their sense of happiness and explained that money could help them purchase clothes, health insurance and 86 feed their family. Thus money was a key determinant for well-being. Alongside this beneficiaries highlight the responsibility as a women to provide for her family. Women express the need to educate for children and buy land for their husbands to cultivate. Whilst currently this can burden a women’s well-being, this will benefit the women in the long run when her children are educated and can provide for her. Kinship and community was also shown to play a role in overall subjective well-being in Rwanda.

The contribution of UCTs on relational well-being was evident in the exploration of key relationships. UCTs had an impact on the relationship between a beneficiary and her husband. UCTs allowed for a man to feel unashamed of the situation him and his family were in, this was seen to create less tension within the household. Through having a stable income beneficiaries felt that they were free from persistent worries of poverty and that this didn’t dominate household conversations. The money received from 100WEEKS allowed women to execute agency within the household and made the man feel happy seeing the assets their wife had purchased. Issues regarding patriarchy were not explicitly mentioned in relation to the money received from 100WEEKS but does still remain a prevalent issue within Rwandan society, especially when looking at IPV. Relationships between beneficiaries and friends was the most complicated well-being trade-off encountered. Some friends and community members were jealous of their friends who had entered the project. This had led to some beneficiaries avoiding friends. Some beneficiaries had experienced negative financial set- backs when their animals had been ‘poisoned or killed’ by other people. Overall this was seen to compromise trust in some friends. The extent to which this significantly impacted overall well-being is undetermined as beneficiaries were able to build strong friendships within 100WEEKS.

Another important relational well-being dimension, in relation to the theory underpinning this research was the ability to feel more included in society as a result of economic capabilities built up through the project. Beneficiaries expressed their ability to talk and collaborate with others in society. Along with this beneficiaries felt like they could attend more social events as they were able to provide a contribution. One of the main differences in relational well-being between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was their levels of loneliness. Non-beneficiaries and beneficiaries before the project felt lonely due to their inability to share problems. Beneficiaries now felt able to tell their problems to other members of the group and to project staff. The over-arching relational well-being impact was 87 shown through a beneficiaries sense of belonging. Economic capabilities and empowerment built up through the project enabled women to provide more for her family, be more present in society and expand her business and develop herself.

Finally, cognitive well-being had been positively impacted through the economic capabilities developed in the project. Beneficiaries translated financial literacy skills accumulated from the project in self-efficacy and an overall higher level of happiness. Economic capabilities correlated with levels of self-belief as beneficiaries felt closer to achieving the life they wish to live. Many hopes and dreams were more aspirational (i.e. growth orientated) rather than survival orientated (shown in the group of non-beneficiaries). Whilst overall levels of happiness was higher in beneficiaries there was a unanimous level of worry for the future in both groups.

9.2 Theoretical Reflection

The theory outlined in the chapter 2 proved to be very constructive for the purpose of analysing well-being and well-being trade-offs. Whilst the majority of findings were anchored towards the fulfilment of basic needs incorporating a well-being approach allowed me to go deeper into the cognitive and relational dimensions of well-being.

Firstly, the Capability Approach subscribed to the social and cultural context applicable in the research whilst the Well-Being Approach allowed for individual and collective well- being to be considered. The combination of the two approaches also provided a more holistic account of beneficiaries perceptions and situations over time. The supplementary literature review on existing UCT programmes brought to light positive and negative well-being outcomes, which aided the interviewer to ask questions related to these dimension. The emphasis on gender was relevant to the research and allowed for gendered aspects to be discussed within the household. To add to the research it would have been interesting to consider the role gender played in relation to the success of economic capabilities. As beneficiaries continue to develop, this research could start to add a legal and human rights approach to help to analyse the rights women have as workers. This study has contributed to a larger scholarly body of evidence which aims to understand the effectiveness of multi- faceted interventions on experienced poverty persistence.

9.3 Methodological Reflection

The mixed research methodology of FGDs and in-depth semi structured interviews (complemented by secondary BD) was well suited to this thesis and the thesis aims. The multi-stage and multi-approach to the methodology allowed for the concepts of economic capabilities and well-being to be developed in relation to the project and country context, however group dynamics did not allow for the depth and breadth that interviews allowed, potentially highlighting the hesitancy to share subjective experiences and opinions in a group setting. However, concepts were adequately defined after running numerous FGDs on the same topic. The supplementary secondary data significantly helped to build up a holistic view of beneficiaries conditions and capabilities before the project, however it would have been consistent if this data was used throughout all sections of the research as quantitative data is lacking in well-being research. In addition to this, certain relational and cognitive dimensions such as loneliness, depressive symptoms happiness could have also been quantified, there are numerous scales already developed such as the CESD depression scale and World Values Survey (WVS) to measure happiness, life satisfaction and trust, this could have been easily incorporated in research, this could account for social desirability bias. Being able to interview different parties such as parish leaders, local administration, beneficiaries husbands would also ensure more triangulation of the data.

9.4 Conceptual Scheme Reflection

The conceptual scheme (Figure 2) which was originally presented requires revision. The original conceptual scheme was restricted to the thesis aims and available literature, however now we have more in-depth understanding on the well-being of UCT beneficiaries in Rwanda. Figure 20 is an altered conceptual scheme, with four noticeable differences. Firstly, in the context of Rwanda it was shown that the priority of subjective well-being was material well-being and family, kinship and community. Secondly, in addition to patriarchy and lack of agency, societal expectations of marriage and negative community spill over effects (jealousy) were encountered by beneficiaries, which acts as a barrier between material and relational well-being. Thirdly, worrying about the future was also witnessed as a barrier experienced by both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries between material and cognitive well-being dimensions. Lastly, one of the main findings regarding the difference between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was loneliness and the inability to share problems. This creates a barrier between cognitive well-being and relational well-being in women. 89

Figure 16 Revised Conceptual Scheme

Source: Application of Theoretical Underpinnings & Incorporation of Data

9.5 Policy Recommendations

From the research it is possible to make constructive policy recommendations for 100WEEKS, other UCT programmes and public policy of the Rwandan government.

9.5.1 100WEEKS

• Challenge the selection of women entered into the project such as the lack of targeting of the socially excluded ultra-poor in society; including people with disabilities • Include husbands in financial literacy sections of the training • As indicated by the data collection the biggest challenge faced is jealousy in Rwanda, include questions in the survey regarding this issue and how it affects well-being in women • Keep a record of all cases of ‘poisoning’ or killings of animals to build up a holistic understanding of beneficiaries/areas/traits of women who experience jealous attacks • Include questions in the Baseline Data to track negative well-being effects of 100WEEKS e.g. Have you experienced any negative consequences from receiving 100WEEKS money? • Monthly well-being check-ins between beneficiary and coach • Option to build links with local hospital/clinic to have access to a councillor or therapist which beneficiaries are able to go and see if they notice a significant decline in relational/cognitive well-being especially following material set-backs or significant life events.

9.5.2 Take-Aways from the Success of 100WEEKS for the Implementation of other UCT Programmes in Rwanda

• Enforce financial diaries key to be consistently kept by beneficiaries to track day to day expenditures and purchases • Constant monitoring and evaluation of beneficiaries, through the use of enumerators & project staff. • Comprehensive weekly skills training, utilising a coach with a certain level of education (i.e. primary school teacher) • Regular home visits to avoid the mis-use of UCTs on taking out debts 91

• Include husband in the process in order to mitigate any complex family issues, similar to 100WEEKS allow a two week break between baseline and initial money for the family to be briefed and husband to be on board • Training on Family Planning & Nutrition

9.5.3 Changes to Rwandan Government Public Policy

• Address the mis-representation of Ubudehe Categorisation. • Evident mis-representation and corruption exhibited in local administration. Advisable to avoid involving them at the implementation phase, use local administration to carry out intervention ‘independently’. • Increase public policy on mental health and aim to reduce stigma’s attached

9.6 Future Research

Firstly, while attempting to counteract social exclusion and self-exclusion of beneficiaries, the cognitive internal mental processes of extreme poverty remained under highlighted in the poverty research and action of giving development aid. The generic oversight misdirects and undermines the effectiveness of development aid at reaching the poorest in society. In collaboration with development agencies, a psychosocial assessment done by a psychologist is highly advisable in poverty research. The effectiveness of personal coaching, building confidence and assertiveness trainings is crucial to research for ultra-poor development aid effectiveness. This study showed that paying attention to cognitive dimensions did not require complicated process, it was simply a process of direct questioning or group discussion. This research would be taken to the next level it had some psychological insight into unobservable cognitive well-being mechanisms in the ultra-poor, such as

Secondly, the time constraint aspect of the beneficiaries lives requires closer consideration. Whilst the research put considerable emphasis on the past, present and future, the qualitative data gathered predominantly focuses on the current moment of their lives. Beneficiaries both starting the project and finishing the project could have added a more insightful well-being journey. A longitudinal study of the beneficiaries using depressive/happiness scales could be utilised to capture a more complete picture. This will help fill in the gaps of the missing 92 literature on beneficiaries situations. Understanding the coping mechanisms of beneficiaries under different stressful life events and unforeseen circumstances could be useful for future development aid intervention. Analysing unforeseen shocks can help development interventions prepare for these eventualities and can help beneficiaries build resilience an example of this would be climate change resilience.

Problems arising from the social context are largely missing in literature. The complexities of post genocidal mental health aspects have been exposed, relational well-being is significantly under-exposed. Relationship dynamics stem from empirical context, specifically political and social and this research highlighted how much of a role these aspects play in determining women’s well-being. Inter-generational research on relational well-being could also be an interesting topic for future research.

10 Bibliography

African Development Bank Group (AfDB). (2010). Testing combined targeting systems for cash transfer programmes: the case of the CT-OVC programme in Kenya.

African Development Bank Group & Rwanda (AfDB). (2014). Analysis of Gender and Youth Employment in Rwanda | Africa Development Bank (AfDB). May. http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Rwanda_- _Analysis_of_Gender_and_Youth_Employment.pdf

African Development Bank Group & Rwanda (AfDB). (2014). Improving Economic Competitiveness to Bring About Shared Growth. afdb.org

Ahmed, S. M., Chowdhury, A., & Bhuiya, A. (2001). Micro-Credit and Emotional Well- Being: Experience of Poor Rural Women from Matlab, Bangladesh. World Development, 29, 1957–1966. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00069-9

Altaf, A. (2019). the Many Hidden Faces of Extreme Poverty : (Issue January).

Andre, C., & Platteau, J., (1998). "Land relations under unbearable stress: Rwanda caught in the Malthusian trap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-47, January.

Angeles, G., de Hoop, J., Handa, S., Kilburn, K., Milazzo, A. and Peterman, A., (2019). Government of Malawi's unconditional cash transfer improves youth mental health. Social Science & Medicine, 225, pp.108-119.

Bayisenge, J., (2010). Early marriage as a barrier to girl’s education. Retrieved on, 1(10), p.2010.

Bastagli, F., Hagen-Zanker, J., Harman, L., Barca, V., Sturge, G., Schmidt, T., & Pellerano, L. (2016). Cash transfers: what does the evidence say? A rigorous review of programme impact and of the role of design and implementation features. ODI Report, July, 1–300. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29336.39687

Berner, E., Gómez, G., & Knorringa, P. (2012). ‘Helping a Large Number of People Become a Little Less Poor’: The Logic of Survival Entrepreneurs. The European Journal of Development Research, 24, 382–396.

Bhalla, A. and Lapeyre, F., (1997). Social Exclusion: Towards an Analytical and Operational Framework. Development and Change, 28(3), pp.413-433.

Blaikie, N. W. H. (Norman W. H. (1993) Approaches to social enquiry . Cambridge: Polity Press 94

BRAC. (2019). Overview. Ultra-Poor Graduation Programme, Bangladesh

BRAC. (2019). Graduation pillars. September.

Brickman, and Campbell. (1971). Hedonic relativism and planning the good society. Adaptation Level Theory?, 287–305.

Bryman, A. (2016). Social Research Methods. Fifth edition. Oxford;: Oxford University Press

Buvinic, M., Das Gupta, M., Casabonne, U., & Verwimp, P. (2013). Violent Conflict and Gender Inequality: An Overview. The World Bank Research Observer, 28(1), 110-138. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/24582374

Cain, M., Khanam, S. R. & Nahar, S. (1979) Class, patriarchy, and women's work in Bangladesh. Popul. Dev. Rev. 5, 405.

Cummins, R., A.(2003). Normative Life Satisfaction: Measurement Issues and a Homeostatic Model. Social Indicators Research 64, 225–256. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024712527648

De Haan, A. and Maxwell, S., (2017). Poverty and social exclusion in North and South.

Des Forges, A., (1999). Leave none to tell the story. New York: Human Rights Watch.

DesGasper., (2000). Evaluating the ?logical framework approach? towards learning-oriented development evaluation. Public Administration and Development, 20(1), pp.17-28.

DesGasper., (2002) Is Sen's Capability Approach an Adequate Basis for Considering Human Development?, Review of Political Economy, 14:4, 435-461, DOI: 10.1080/0953825022000009898

Devereux, S. (2003). Conceptualising destitution. Institute of Development Studies Sussex Working Paper, No. 216.Retrieved from https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/4011/Wp216.pdf?sequen ce=1&isAllowed=y

Devine, J., Camfield, L. and Gough, I. (2006). Autonomy or dependence - or both? Perspectives from Bangladesh. WeD Working Paper 13 Bath: Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) Research Group, University of Bath

Diener, E., & Lucas, R., & Oishi, S. (2002). Subjective Well-Being: The Science of Happiness and Life Satisfaction. Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195187243.013.0017.

Duhs, L. A., (2008). "SEN’S ECONOMIC PHILOSOPHY Capabilities and Human Development in the Revival of Economics as a Moral Science," Discussion Papers Series 366, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

Egger, D., Haushofer, J., Miguel, E., Niehaus, P., Walker, M., Abraham, J., Bhalothia, A., Brown, C., Deneoux, G., Graff, T., Lauletta, M., Layvant, M., Lowe, L., Marchenko, A., Mueller, M., De Oliviera, P., On, R., Pizatella-Haswell, R., Siddique, E., … Cruz, S. (2019). General equilibrium effects of cash transfers: experimental evidence from Kenya.

Erinkveld, B.F.H. (2016) The land of a thousand broken hearts: trauma and reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda

ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries (2007). Wellbeing and International development. Retrieved from http://www.bath.ac.uk/soc- pol/welldev/research/wellbeing-statement.pdf

Ezeanya-Esiobu, C. (2017). The Rise of Homegrown Ideas and Grassroots Voices New Directions in Social Policy in Rwanda prepared for the UNRISD project on New Directions in Social Policy: Alternatives for and from the Global South. www.unrisd.org

Franzblau, S. H. and Moore, M. (2001). 'Socialising efficacy: a reconstruction of self-efficacy theory within the context of inequality', Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 11: 83-96

Gifford, P. (1995). The Christian churches and the democratisation of Africa. Leiden, E.J. Brill.

Goetz, A. M., & Gupta, R. S. (1996). Who takes credit? gender, power and control over loan use in rural credit programs in Bangladesh. World Development, 24 (1), 45-63

Gonzalez-Brenes, Melissa. (2003). Domestic Violence, Bargaining and Fertility in Rural Tanzania.

Gough, I. and McGregor J A. In press, (2007) Wellbeing in Developing Countries: From Theory to Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Guba, C. E. (1990). Guba_ParadigmDialog.pdf. http://academic.son.wisc.edu/courses/n701/week/Guba_ParadigmDialog.pdf

Guest, Greg & Bunce, Arwen & Johnson, Laura. (2006). How Many Interviews Are Enough?. Field Methods - FIELD METHOD. 18. 59-82. 10.1177/1525822X05279903.

Harriss-White, B. (2002). A note on destitution. Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford Working Paper Series, No. 86. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6759375.pdf 96

Haushofer, J. and Shapiro, J. (2013). Household response to income changes: Evidence from an unconditional cash transfer program in Kenya. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Working Paper

Haushofer, J. and Shapiro, J., (2016) The Short-term Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers to the Poor: Experimental Evidence from Kenya, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 131, Issue 4, Pages 1973–2042, https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjw025

He, J., van de Vijver, F., Dominguez Espinosa, A., Abubakar, A., Dimitrova, R., Adams, B., Aydinli, A., Atitsogbe, K., Alonso-Arbiol, I., Bobowik, M., Fischer, R., Jordanov, V., Mastrotheodoros, S., Neto, F., Ponizovsky, Y., Reb, J., Sim, S., Sovet, L., Stefenel, D., Suryani, A., Tair, E. and Villieux, A., (2014). Socially Desirable Responding. Cross-Cultural Research, 49(3), pp.227-249.

Hennink, M., Hutter, I., & Bailey, A. (2011). Qualitative research methods. London: Sage.

Hulme, D., Moore, K., & Shepherd, A. (2001). Chronic poverty : meanings and analytical frameworks CPRC Working Paper 2 Chronic Poverty Research Centre ISBN Number : 1- 904049-01-X. In Development (Issue July).

Hulme, D. & Moore, K. (2007). Assisting the poorest in Bangladesh: Learning from BRAC’s ‘Targeting the Ultra Poor’ programme. Brooks World Poverty Institute Working Paper, No.1. Retrieved from: http://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/gdi/publications/workingpapers/bwpi/bwpi-wp- 0107.pdf

Kabeer, N., (1996). Agency, well‐being & inequality: Reflections on the gender dimensions of poverty. IDS bulletin, 27(1), pp.11-21.

Kidd, Stephen. (2017). The Effectiveness of the Graduation Approach: what does the evidence tell us?.

Kilburn, K., Thirumurthy, H., Halpern, C.T., Pettifor, A. and Handa, S., (2016). Effects of a large-scale unconditional cash transfer program on mental health outcomes of young people in Kenya. Journal of Adolescent Health, 58(2), pp.223-229.

Kilburn, K.N., Pettifor, A., Edwards, J.K., Selin, A., Twine, R., MacPhail, C., Wagner, R., Hughes, J.P., Wang, J. and Kahn, K., (2018). Conditional cash transfers and the reduction in partner violence for young women: an investigation of causal pathways using evidence from a randomized experiment in South Africa (HPTN 068). Journal of the international AIDS society, 21, p.e25043.

Lacey, M. (26 August 2003). "Rwandan President Declares Election Victory". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. Retrieved on 18 June 2020

Lawson, D., Hulme, D., Matin, I., & Moore, K. (Eds.). (2010). What works for the poorest? Poverty reduction programmes for the world's extreme poor. Rugby: Practical Action Publishing.

Lawson, D., Ado-Kofie, L. and Hulme, D. (2017). What Works For Africa's Poorest?.

Lipton, M. (1983). Poverty, Undernutrition, and Hunger. World Bank Staff Working Papers, No. 597. Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/892041468766760990/pdf/multi0page.pdf

Lipton, M. (1988). The Poor and the Poorest. Some interim findings. Washington D.C.: The World Bank. Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/424871468765924001/pdf/multi-page.pdf

Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. and Diener, E., (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success?. Psychological bulletin, 131(6), p.803.

McGregor, J. A. (2004). Researching well-being: Communicating between the needs of policy makers and the needs of people. Global Social Policy, 4(3), 337-358.

McGregor, J. A. (2006). Researching wellbeing: From concepts to methodology. Wellbeing in Developing Countries Research Group, Working Paper No.20. Retrieved from http://www.bath.ac.uk/soc-pol/welldev/research/workingpaperpdf/wed20.pdf

McGregor, J. A. (2007). Researching Well-Being: From Concepts to Methodology. WeD Working Paper 20. Bath: ESRC.

Mcgregor, J. & Pouw, Nicky. (2016). Towards an Economics of Wellbeing. Cambridge Journal of Economics. 2016. 10.1093/cje/bew044.

Mosse, D. (2010). A relational approach to durable poverty, inequality and power. The journal of development studies, 46(7), 1156-1178.

Narayan, D., Chambers, R., Shah, M. and Petesch, P. (2000). Voices Of The Poor. New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.

Narayan, D., Sen, B., Hull, K., Nikitin, D., Richard , B., Petesch, P., & Paul, S. (2009). Moving Out of Poverty. Washington: Palgrave MacMillan.

National Institute and Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). (2015). Fourth population and housing census, Rwanda, 2012. 98

National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). (2015). Ministry of Health (MOH), ICF International. Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2014–15. Rockville, Maryland: NISR, MOH, and ICF International; 2015

National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). (2016). EICV4 - Utilities and amenities thematic Report, March 2016.

National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). (2018). The Establishment Census 2017.

National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). (2018). EICV5_Gender Thematic Report , December 2018

Nizeyimana, P. & Lee, K. & Sim, S. (2018). A study on the classfication of households in Rwanda based on factor scores. Journal of the Korean Data And Information Science Sociaty. 29. 547-555. 10.7465/jkdi.2018.29.2.547.

Nussbaum, M. (2001). Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oduro R. (2015). Beyond poverty reduction: conditional cash transfers and citizenship in Ghana. International Journal of Social Welfare 24: 27–36.

Onyango-Ouma W, Samuels F. (2012). Transforming Cash Transfers: Beneficiary and Community Perspectives on the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme in Kenya. London: ODI.

Oxfam. (2020). Time to care. Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/time-care

Pouliot, V. (2007). “Sobjectivism”. Toward a Constructivist Methodology. In International Studies Quarterly (Vol. 51). https://about.jstor.org/terms

Pouw, N. & McGregor, A. (2014). An economics of wellbeing: what would economics look like if it were focused on human wellbeing? Institute of Development Studies Working Paper, Volume 2014 No. 436.

Pouw, N.R.M. (2015) Guest Editor of Special Issue on ‘Strategic Governance and Inclusive Development’, European Journal of Development Research, 17 August 2015.

Robeyns, I. (2017). Wellbeing, freedom and social justice. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers.

Rojas, M. (2008). “Experienced Poverty and Income Poverty in Mexico: A Subjective Well- Being Approach.” World Development 36.6 1078–1093. Web. 99

Ruark, A., Stern, E., Dlamini-Simelane, T., & Kakuze, M. F. (2017). Love matters: exploring conceptions of love in Rwanda and Swaziland and relationship to HIV and intimate partner violence. African Journal of AIDS Research, 16(4), 271–282. https://doi.org/10.2989/16085906.2017.1343740

Rubin, D. (2016). Qualitative methods for gender research in agricultural development. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1535. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/130349

Sabates, R., Bhutoria, A., Sabates-Wheeler, R., & Devereux, S. (2019). Schooling responses to income changes: Evidence from unconditional cash transfers in Rwanda. International Journal of Educational Research, 93, 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.11.011

Scheffer, D. (2004). “Lessons from the Rwandan Genocide.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Accessed on September 16, 2014. Available online at http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/ centers- programs/centers/carr/programs/TransitionalJustice/LessonsFromR wandaGencoide.pdf

Sen, A. (1981). Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sen, A. (1985). Well-being, agency and freedom: the Dewey lectures 1984. The journal of philosophy, 82(4), 169-221.

Sen, A. (1993). Capability and Well-Being. In: Nussbaum, M., Sen, A.K. (Eds.), Quality of Life. Clarendon Press, Oxford. pp. 30-53.

Sen, A. (1999a). Development as Freedom, NY: Knopf Publishers.

Sen, A. (1999b). Commodities and Capabilities. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Social Institutions & Gender Index (SIGI). (2019). Rwanda https://www.genderindex.org/wp-content/uploads/files/datasheets/2019/RW.pdf

Sinola, C. (2020). Rwanda, After Genocide. [Place of publication not identified]: CAMBRIDGE UNIV Press US.

Smith, J. K. (1983). Quantitative Versus Qualitative Research: An Attempt to Clarify the Issue. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://about.jstor.org/terms

Strauss, A.L., & Corbin, J.M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Timmer, C. (1988). The agricultural transformation. Handbook of development economics. Vol. 1. vol. I. The World Bank. (2015). RWANDA Poverty Assessment. April, 188. 100

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). (2017) Concluding observations on the combined seventh to ninth periodic reports of Rwanda, 9 March 2017, CEDAW/C/RWA/CO/7-9, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/596f4b0a4.html [accessed 15 June 2020]

UNICEF, 2016, Cash transfers: What’s gender got to do with it? Available at: https://blogs.unicef.org/blog/cash-transfers-whats-gender-got-to-do-with-it/ [Accessed 16 06 2020].

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (n.d.). community-based-saving-groups- drive-vulnerable-rwandan-household @ www.undp.org. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/ourstories/community-based-saving- groups-drive-vulnerable-rwandan-household.html

United Nations Development Programme Rwanda (UNDP Rwanda) (2018) Gender Equality Strategy: UNDP Rwanda (2019-2022)

Uvin, P. (1999). Development Aid and Structural Violence: The case of Rwanda. Development. 42. 49-56. 10.1057/palgrave.development.1110060.

Vohs, K. (2013). The Poor’s Poor Mental Power. Science, 341, 969-970.

Vossenberg, S. (2018). Frugal innovation through a gender lens: Towards an analytical framework. The European Journal of Development Research, 30(1), pp.34-48

White, S. (2009) Bringing Wellbeing into Development Practice, WeD Working Paper, 09/50, https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/bringing-wellbeing-into- developmentpractice, accessed 17 June 2020

The World Bank (2015). Female headed households (% of households with a female head) https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.HOU.FEMA.ZS?end=2016&locations=RW&start=2 016&view=map

The World Bank (2018). Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-sharedprosperity

The World Bank (2019). Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS

The World Bank (2019). Rwanda Systematic Country Diagnostic; June 25 2019

101

World Education News & Reviews (2019) Education in Rwanda https://wenr.wes.org/2019/10/education-in- rwanda#:~:text=Education%20is%20a%20government%20priority.&text=Rwanda%20spend s%20only%2011%20percent,percent%20in%20sub%2DSaharan%20Africa.

102

11 Appendixes

Appendix 1. Comparison Between Baseline Data, Beneficiaries and non- Beneficiaries

Age Mean Baseline Data 32.02 Beneficiaries 31.5 Non-Beneficiaries 27.7

Level of Education No Primary Secondary Tertiary Vocational School/Pre Education Education Primary Baseline Data 13.3% 74.1% 11.5% 0.3% 0.9% Beneficiaries 0% 83% 17% 0% 0% Non-Beneficiaries 0% 52% 48% 0% 0%

Ownership of House Owned Rented Care-taker/Family member Baseline Data 91.1% 4.9% 4.1% Beneficiaries 100% 0% 0% Non-Beneficiaries 47% 24% 29%

Access to Clean Drinking Water Yes No Baseline Data 96% 4% Beneficiaries 100% 0% Non-Beneficiaries 94% 6%

Average Number of Meals Eaten Mode Mean Baseline Data 2 1.76 Beneficiaries Before: 1 Now: 3 Before: 1.67 Now: 2.62

Non-Beneficiaries 1 1.04

Income Mean Baseline Data N/A Beneficiaries Before: 3,000RWF Now: 10,000RWF Non-Beneficiaries 2,500RWF

103

Number of Household Members Mode Mean Baseline Data 4 3.46 Beneficiaries 4.46 5 Non-Beneficiaries 3.91 3

104

Appendix 2

Table 11 Difference Between Ultra-Poor and Poor People in Rwanda Economic Freedom The main difference between the ultra-poor and the poor is that this group is physically capable of working on land owned by others, although they themselves have either no land or very small landholdings, and no livestock. The poorest can be identified by begging for food and always suffering to find their next meal.

Poor in society have access to friends or community members who could offer work if jobs become available whereas ultra-poor stay at home and participate in only domestic work and subsistent gardening.

Social Opportunities Basic Education: Poor and Ultra-poor have the same level of basic education. Both categories have basic primary education after the countrywide focus on full primary school attendance reached nearly 100% (WENR, 2019). Ultra-poor cannot afford to pay for secondary education of children.

Basic Healthcare: In 2011, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health instituted a new Community Based Health Insurance (Scheme known as the Mutuelle de Sante. Scheme. Rate of payment depends on Ubudheh categorisation. The poorest and most vulnerable citizens are exempt from paying premiums and are covered by governments and NGOs, while citizens who fall under other Ubudehe categories pay according to income (Ezeanya-Esiobu , 2017).

Societal Status: Poorest in society are not considered as part of the society, people pity them or look on them. Many of the poorest in society feel ashamed or unable to feel equal in society. Poor are visible within society and people respect their opinion. Poor are viewed as capable market or street vendors and have some small scale enterprise.

Assets: Ultra-poor have no assets Whereas poor may have few assets to provide small amount of food or income. Assets include livestock, land, property, tailoring machine Many ultra-poor do not own official land-rights as it requires a certificate from the government costing 30,000RWF along with official documents confirming size, costing roughly another 30,000RWF for a surveyor,

Housing: Housing of the ultra-poor can be provided by the government or owned but does not provide much shelter or protection because of holes in the roof, no flooring other than dirt and stones, lack of windows. Ultra-poor cook outside or in small indoor empty firepit rooms. Food is cooked either using firewood or charcoal. Poor people have similar housing similar but may have few furnishings or have simple amenities such as electricity, stove, mattress.

Protective Security Grink: The Girinka, or one-cow-per-poor-family, programme (Girinka in Kinyarwanda translates to “may you own a cow”). Cows are given or exchanged at births, deaths, marriages, conflict resolution and in recognition of service in Rwanda. The Girinka programme depends on the Ubudehe categorization to determine who qualifies for the gift of a cow from the government and who can receive the first female offspring from the original recipient (Ezeanya-Esiobu , 2017).

Source: Interpretation of conversation with project staff, beneficiaries and fieldwork observation

105

Appendix 3

Table 12 Summary of Relational Well-Being between Beneficiaries and Non-Beneficiaries

Relationships Beneficiaries: with Important Husband: Seemingly few problems with husband (potential social desirability bias) Feel at ease with their husband at home due to the relief of tension over ‘male breadwinner’ Agents societal expectations. Conversations in the home no longer revolve around financial problems associated with poverty. Beneficiaries feel able to exercise their agency within the home as husband feels happy to see the progress of the women and the assets she has been able to purchase. Ability to cooperate together in work through cultivation or running of a small shop together. Strong sense of support felt by beneficiaries from the husband due to the admission in the project Family: Provided for through 100WEEKS money. Beneficiaries feel sense of independence away from their family. Friends: Low level of trust, but still feel supported by friends Wider support system due to the circle of friends made through the project. Ability to share problems freely with other beneficiaries, coaches and project staff Non-Beneficiaries: Husband: Seemingly few problems between non-beneficiary and husband (potential social desirability bias) Higher levels of stress and tension within the household Household discussions such as; covering basic needs, educating kids and how to afford health insurance card. Agency to make household decisions with the small amount of money earnt independently or as a collective. Family: Trust and support felt by family members, however levels of support on the lower level due to the inability of either party to access savings or credit. Friends: Trust and support felt with friends Fewer encounters with jealous people. Loneliness Beneficiaries: Low levels of loneliness Friendships created through 100WEEKS project Non- Beneficiaries: Higher levels of loneliness Feeling lonely in everyday problems such as hunger Rely heavily on God to tell all their problems too Inclusion in Beneficiaries: Society All feel included in society at present time Feeling able to attend social events and provide a token or gift, able to purchase clothes suitable for such occasions. Feel empowered to talk to different in society (including people on the higher level) Feeling like their voice is heard, valued Feel respected people actively seek beneficiary for words of advice All able to access saving groups (if not multiple) Non-Beneficiaries: Most feel included in society at present time but only with people on the same level. Sense of inferiority to those in society above them Few compare themselves to others, don’t believe they can achieve what others achieve Less access to saving groups Some say their voice is not heard of valued at all Source: Interpretation of Beneficiaries/Non-Beneficiaries Interviews by author.

106

Appendix 4

Table 13 Summary of Cognitive Well-Being between Beneficiaries and Non-Beneficiaries

Depressive Beneficiaries: Symptoms/Happiness Depressive symptoms experienced predominantly through traumatic/stressful life events i.e. death, illness sickness accident All beneficiaries saw improvements in sleeping patterns. Relieved from the stress of ‘overthinking’ about problems Improvement in levels of happiness, all beneficiaries happy about their life now compared to 7 who felt unhappy before the project Non-Beneficiaries: Depressive symptoms experienced though traumatic/stressful life events i.e. death, illness, accident. Addition of everyday life stressors creating depressive symptoms (no access to health insurance, bills for sick children, not being able to cover basic needs) Trouble sleeping overthinking about problems associated with poverty 10 out of 17 beneficiaries currently unhappy about the life they are living in. Self-Belief Beneficiaries: All beneficiaries believe in themselves and believe they have the self-efficacy to create the life they wish to live. All beneficiaries believe they can overcome all of their challenges, even when others want them to quit All beneficiaries hopes and dreams changed over time due to the increase in capital provided by the project Achievements more aspirational, centred around development and growth orientated goals Belief that they have the ability to help others Achievements: in the future consist of buying land, educating kids and expanding business. Non- Beneficiaries: Many non-beneficiaries still believe they can overcome their challenges. Behaviour noticeably more passive and fatalistic, relying on God to change their life. Hopes and dreams not changed over time, un-aspirational compared to beneficiaries Dreams including changing happiness. Aspirations: not wanting to work for other people, start a business and well-being Achievements for the future centred around accessing basic needs or assets (houses, animals, land) Source: Interpretation of Beneficiaries/Non-Beneficiaries Interviews by author.

107

Appendix 5 List of Respondents

Focus Group Discussions

Name Topic Group Number of Number of Date of FGD Participants weeks in project FGD1 Economic 9 7 84 27th January Capabilities FGD2 Economic 21/22 7 27 29th January Capabilities FGD3 Well-being 21/22 6 27 29th January FGD4 Well-being 9 5 85 5th February FGD5 Well-being 24 4 18 7th February

In-Depth Semi Structured Interviews

Name Group Age Number of weeks Date Interviewed in project B1 21 28 29 12th February B2 21 33 29 12th February B3 21 35 29 12th February B4 9 36 86 17th February B5 9 33 86 17th February B6 18 38 56 18th February B7 18 23 56 18th February B8 18 38 56 18th February B9 9 23 87 24th February B10 9 35 87 24th February B11 9 34 88 9th March B12 9 40 88 9th March NB1 Not in project 28 Not in project 25th February NB2 Not in project 33 Not in project 25th February NB3 Not in project 33 Not in project 25th February NB4 Not in project 24 Not in project 25th February NB5 Not in project 29 Not in project 25th February NB6 Not in project 22 Not in project 2nd March NB7 Not in project 23 Not in project 2nd March NB8 Not in project 28 Not in project 2nd March NB9 Not in project 24 Not in project 2nd March NB10 Not in project 20 Not in project 2nd March NB11 Not in project 20 Not in project 2nd March NB12 Not in project 28 Not in project 11th March NB13 Not in project 25 Not in project 11th March NB14 Not in project 21 Not in project 11th March NB15 Not in project 39 Not in project 11th March NB16 Not in project 37 Not in project 11th March 108

NB17 Not in project 30 Not in project 11th March

Other Semi-Structured Interviews

Name Date 100WEEKS Staff Member 22nd April

109

Appendix 6 Focus Group Discussions

Economic Capabilities Focus Group Discussions Question

Briefing including introduction (name and where I study) and ethics; spoken consent, purpose of research, how the data is used, anonymity and confidentiality

Encouraging the participants to tell their stories and experiences as much as they feel like they want to. Assure beneficiaries that the answers they give will never lead to them being excluded from the programme (even if the responses are very negative).

Any Questions?

Entrepreneurship

Does everyone want to become an entrepreneur? (How many people agreed or disagreed with a statement)

If yes, why do you want to become an entrepreneur – is it realistic (can everyone become one)?

If no, why don’t you want to become an entrepreneur?

What do you consider to be an asset?

Have you invested in any assets?

Do you have a strong sense of empowerment?

Are women able to be present in the workforce in Rwanda?

Do you face any disadvantages being a women?

Financial literacy

What do you believe is financial literacy?

What financial literacy have you learnt through 100WEEKS?

How are you capable to deal with unexpected shocks and needs?

110

Well-Being Focus Group Discussion

What is well-being to you?

Who are important people in your life?

Do you tend to tell people about your problems or keep them to yourself?

What gives purpose to your life?

What is happiness to you? How do you deal with unhappiness?

Have you heard of depression?

What makes you feel calm?

When do you feel proud of yourself?

When will you feel satisfied with your life?

What makes you worry?

Thank you for participating.

111

Appendix 7 Interview Questions

Briefing including introduction (name and where I study) and ethics; spoken consent, purpose of research, how the data is used, anonymity and confidentiality

Any Questions?

(Note: Questions with (100WEEKS) were only applicable to beneficiaries in the project)

Introduction

What is your name? Age?

(100 WEEKS) What group are you in (100 weeks) and how long have you been in 100 weeks?

Material well-being

(100WEEKS) What business did you do before the project?

What business do you do now?

How much do you earn per week?

(100 WEEKS) How much did you earn before the project?

How many people in your household earn money?

Do you have any assets?

What is your highest level of education?

Do you have access to healthcare?

Do you have access to clean drinking water?

(100WEEKS) Do you depend on 100WEEKS financial aid?/ Do you receive any financial aid?

(100WEEKS) Were you able to cover your basic needs before this project?/ Are you able to cover your basic needs?

How many meals do you eat?

(100WEEKS) How many meals did you eat before the project?

112

Do you have any loans? If yes, where did you access these loans?

Do you feel like these loans are manageable?

Relational Well-Being

How many people do you live with? Ages?

How would you describe your relationship with your husband?

(100WEEKS) Has your relationship changed with your husband due to the project?

Who usually makes the decisions in your house?

How would you describe your relationship with your family?

(100WEEKS) Has your relationship changed due to the project?

How would you describe your relationship with your friends?

Who helps you in times of need/emergency?

(100WEEKS) Have you made friends in the project?

Do you feel included in society?

(100WEEKS) Did you feel included before the project. Describe how you feel and what has changed?

Do you have access to saving groups?

(100WEEKS) Do you have less/more access to groups now because of the project?

Do you feel lonely?

Who do you tell your problems too?

(100WEEKS) Did you feel lonelier before the project?

Cognitive Well-Being

Have you felt sad for long periods of time?

How is your current level of happiness?

(100WEEKS) Describe how you happiness has changed throughout the project?

Do you have joy in your life?

Do you feel hopeful? 113

Do you feel calm most of the time?

Are you angry at the world?

Do you feel helpless?

What are your hopes and dreams and have these changed over time?

How would you describe yourself and how do you think others describe you?

Are you happy about your life now?

(100WEEKS) Were you happy about your life before the project?

Do you worry about the future still?

Do you think you have all the important things in life?

Thank you for participating.