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Project

Strengthening the impact of South Africa's COVID-19 Social Relief Distress Grant among unpaid caregivers of adolescents living with HIV
 

South Africa
Project ID
110018
Total Funding
CAD 985,217.00
IDRC Officer
Qamar Mahmood
Project Status
Active
Duration
24 months

Programs and partnerships

Lead institution(s)

Project leader:
Angela Kaida
Canada

Project leader:
Darshini Govindasamy
South Africa

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to control it have threatened livelihoods, introduced new workplace risks and made unstable work relationships even more precarious, especially for women.Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to control it have threatened livelihoods, introduced new workplace risks and made unstable work relationships even more precarious, especially for women. This project will evaluate a cash transfer called the Social Relief Distress Grant, plus a gender-transformative economic livelihoods intervention for improving psychological well-being and gender equality among women caregivers of children and adolescents living with HIV (CALHIV) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The research approach will consist of a randomized trial among HIV clinic caregivers of CALHIV. Intervention clusters will receive a monthly cash transfer and the gender/livelihoods intervention while the control clusters will receive only the monthly cash transfer. Qualitative interviews will assess the feasibility, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Among the impacts assessed will be psychological well-being, intimate partner violence, depressive symptoms, gender attitudes and earnings. Results will improve understanding of economic livelihood-based interventions in strengthening caregivers’ psychological well-being. The evidence generated will help to strengthen the current government’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.

This project is supported by Women’s health and economic empowerment for a COVID-19 Recovery that is Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable (Women RISE), a partnership between IDRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Its aim is to support global action-oriented, gender-transformative research by teams of researchers from low- and middle-income countries and Canada.

About the partnership

Partnership(s)

Women RISE

The Women RISE initiative supports action-oriented and gender-transformative research on how women's health and their work (paid or unpaid) intersect and interact in the context of preparedness, response and recovery from COVID-19.