IDCPPA Research Seminar - 23 April 2026 - Patience Masi - ‘It’s a murder scene’: Donor Cooperation and Competition in Supporting Social Cash Transfers

29 Apr 2026
Patience Masi, IDCPPA Research Seminar, Cash Transfers
29 Apr 2026

Thursday, 23 April 2026, 14:00 – 15:30 SAST.

CSSR Seminar Room 4.29

Robert Leslie Social Sciences Building

University of Cape Town

 Please request a video link if you wish to attend online. 

 

Speaker

 

PhD Student Patience Masi 

IDCPPA/University of Cape Town PhD candidate 

 
‘It’s a murder scene’: Donor Cooperation and Competition in Supporting Social Cash Transfers
 
Abstract
How do multiple donors work together to support and finance social transfers? Literature on donors financing social transfers suggests that as much as donors work together to promote social protection extension and implementation in Africa, they also compete.  The competition is regarding differences in who should be covered, with which instruments, how they should be covered and the justification for support. Interviews were conducted with officials from government and international organisations working in Malawi to trace the development of a multi donor trust fund in social protection. The evidence shows that the fund delivered an opportunity to alter relationships and power among both donors and government departments with clear ‘winners’ and ‘losers’.  The study contributes to our understanding of inter-donor politics in social protection.


 

Bio

 

Patience Masi is a PhD student in Sociology under the IDCPPA at UCT and a Research Assistant at Afrobarometer. Her research focuses on the political economy of domestic funding for social cash transfers using Malawi as a case study, with a recent publication in the Journal of Development South Africa, entitled “Donors, domestic politics and the delay of COVID-19 emergency cash transfers in Malawi”.  She holds a MA in Economics from the University of Leeds and a Bachelor of Business Science degree in Economics from the University of Cape Town.