Preferences for conditioning and being conditioned: Experimental and survey evidence from Zambia

While conditionality is a frequently discussed topic among policy-makers and cooperating partners, less attention has been paid to the views of the general public and beneficiaries in low-income countries. Using qualitative, survey and experimental evidence from Zambia, this study contrasts the perceptions of beneficiaries and the broader public with those of policy-makers and assesses the factors that influence choices about imposing conditionalities. The study shows that conditionality meets with general approval under certain conditions. It was agreed that conditionality should not be too punitively enforced lest it lead to greater tension but can meet the interests of policy-makers, the general public and beneficiaries alike, exerting the necessary control for transfer givers and the guidance for transfer recipients. The experiment, however, also demonstrates that conditionality preferences are neither homogeneous nor static and are likely to change with more exposure to social cash transfers and conditionality.