World Vision International implemented a Cash and Food Transfers Pilot Project (CFTPP) in Lesotho as an emergency response to drought in 2007/8. The goal of the project was to mitigate the food insecurity effects of the drought by maintaining or increasing access to basic food and non-food needs for 6,500 drought-affected households, by delivering cash transfers or a combination of food and cash transfers.
World Vision commissioned IDS to carry out an independent evaluation of the CFTPP, to draw a comparison between the cash transfers and food plus cash transfer options. The evaluation also aimed to inform policy-makers in Lesotho, the southern Africa region, and World Vision country offices across the world, about the use of cash transfers in emergency programming.