From impact evaluations to paradigm shift: a case study of the Buenos Aires Ciudadanía Porteña conditional cash transfer programme

In response to the economic and social crises in 2001-2002, the Buenos Aires City Government opted for a cash transfer programme, the Ciudadanía Porteña: Con Todo Derecho, or CPP, in 2005. This case study looks at three impact evaluations of the programme and how they were used. The evaluations were designed with a dual purpose: (i) to determine how the programme could be made more efficient and thus obtain its goals, and (ii) to build consensus and legitimacy about the strategy of cash transfers in general. The most significant change resulting from the evaluations was the creation of the 'To study is to work' component, as of a recommendation made in the first evaluation report of the CPP. In addition, cash benefits for children and teenagers in school were increased and more outreach to teenage mothers was added to help them find childcare options. In addition, there have been changes to the culture of evaluation within the City Government: the evaluations generated immediate improvements in the programme and had significant spillover effects in terms of promoting a new culture of evaluation. Lessons about the connections between the impact evaluations and the CPP policy are (i) trust worthiness of the findings, through rigour and drawing on international expertise, gives legitimacy to study recommendation, (ii) it seems crucial to have a clear communication and dissemination strategy of the results, building understanding and ownership of the study amongst a broad range of stakeholders, (iii) emphasise lesson learning over accountability, and (iv) the evaluation reports should have highlighted more strongly the negative findings to allow further adjustments to address these problems.