Households’ perception of the Aswesuma cash transfer program: a study based on Ankumbura area, Poojapittiya Divisional Secretariat

Abstract

Purpose: Many low- and middle-income countries implement a poverty alleviation programme to eradicate poverty and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. cash transfer program, considered safety nets for the low-income population. The Aswesuma cash transfer initiative, launched as a social protection mechanism, aims to alleviate poverty and improve living standards through direct cash transfers to low income families. This study mainly aims to assess households’ perception of the Aswesuma cash transfer program in the Ankumbura area, Poojapitiya Divisional Secretariat. Design/methodology/approach: This study selected 100 samples from the Aswesuma beneficiaries of Ankumbura area using a simple random sampling method. The primary data were collected through a questionnaire and interview period from July 2023 to July 2024. This study applied the arithmetic mean method Likert scale (5) such as 5-strogly agree, 4-agree, 3-nututal, 2-disagree and 1-strogly disagree to identify awareness among Aswesuma recipients, used factors such as rural development, Community development, financial stability, Health condition, Samurdhi beneficiary, school attendance of children, Investment in livelihood activities and data is collected through Likert scale data collection and descriptive method to analyze trends for utilization of amount of Aswesuma, investment in livelihood activities, changes in living standard of family of Aswesuma recipients, education expenditure, health expenditure, housing improvements, Samurdhi beneficiary analyzed mixed methods with SPSS – 23 and Excel tools Findings: This study found that most of the Aswesuma recipients utilized the cash for more consumption, less investment in livelihood (91%) and poor financial security, not that much change in education and health expenditure, poor housing condition. More than half of the Samurdhi beneficiary received the Aswesuma Cash transfer. Likert scale of Arithmetic means, more than 50 % of the Recipients revealed, that they disagree with livelihood activities, rural infrastructure development, community development and not enough cash transfer amount for households’ investment in livelihood and activities of saving group of Samurdhi Practical implications: In this study suggest that the increasing the cash transfer amount for Aswesuma recipients and encourage to invest in income generating sources. This Aswesuma program did not have any infrastructure development phenomena. Policymakers can consider poor people to implementing a conditional cash transfer system rather the unconditional Aswesuma cash transfer for human development index (HDI), and also beneficiaries should be regular monitoring and evaluation to measure the success of the poverty alleviation program. Originality value: This study contributes to monitoring and evaluating of newly implementing Aswesuma cash transfer for each type of category for poor people in the particular time period.