Cash Transfer and Transformative Social Policy in Senegal: The Role of Power in Cash Transfer Policy Adoption

In developing countries, cash transfer (CT) programmes are becoming a distinct feature of development policy and practice. However, the welfare outcomes of these programmes still need to be critically examined. There are several studies examining the impact of CTs on life chances of the poorest with diverging results. While some conclude that CTs are today an integral component of social policy, others question their long term impact on poverty alleviation. I argue that in order to understand the impact of CTs in local contexts, it is necessary to look at the power dynamics of their adoption and implementation. In this paper, I thus critically examine the interlinkages between International Institutions and the State in CT schemes in Senegal with a particular attention to patronage politics. Focusing on the Plan Sénégal Émergent (PSE) and its Bourse à le Sécurité Familale (BSF) safety net delivery tool, I specifically study the role of formal and informal power in the adoption of the BSF design and decision making. Further, I integrate community level perceptions that are critical to understanding the transformative potential and sustainability of CT programmes. Conceptually, the study combines transformative social policy (TSP) theoretical framework with Norbert Elias’ figurational analysis. The empirical analysis is based on a qualitative approach covering a single case study supported by fieldwork in 2018 and 2019 in Senegal, followed up by online interviews in 2020 and 2021. Overall, the study concludes that the BSF plays a limited role in alleviating poverty, does not contribute to the aims of TSP (i.e. transformation of the economy, social institutions and social relations) and hereby obstructs the PSE goals in Senegal.