UC San Diego economist Paul Niehaus to receive Notre Dame Award for pioneering global cash aid research. April 21, 2026 Paul Niehaus, co-founder of GiveDirectly and an economics faculty member at University of California San Diego, will receive the 2026 Ford Family Notre Dame Award during an April 24 event hosted by the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity at the University of Notre Dame. The Ford Award and Lecture brings together scholars, practitioners and benefactors to engage with questions of poverty, human dignity and development practice. Niehaus will give a lecture on his experiences as co-founder of the GiveDirectly nonprofit organization, its role in facilitating direct cash transfers in anti-poverty work and key research findings that can inform international development. "Paul Niehaus exemplifies the kind of scholarship and impact we seek to recognize with this award," said Ford Program Director Patrizio Piraino. "His work combines rigorous research with a deep respect for human dignity, challenging conventional approaches to poverty alleviation while empowering individuals to make their own economic decisions." This alignment of research and impact is central to the Notre Dame Poverty Initiative, a University-wide effort to create a world intolerant of poverty by expanding knowledge about how to solve it. The University is deploying unprecedented resources, a wide range of research approaches and some of its brightest minds to better understand what causes poverty and how to end it. The GiveDirectly mission, Niehaus said, is rooted in a respect for people's agency and autonomy when delivering aid. Since 2009, direct cash payments have gone to at least 2 million people living in African nations like the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as in the United States. "GiveDirectly has grown from a crazy idea that people thought would never work to over $1 billion now distributed," said Niehaus, who welcomes the Ford Program recognition and the opportunity to share data from some two dozen rigorous studies on direct cash transfer. They include a December 2025 paper, co-authored by Niehaus, that demonstrates how just 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent of global GDP is needed to effectively end extreme poverty - everywhere. The numbers fall within a range that about 60 percent of "rich world" survey respondents would give up if it were to end global poverty, according to separate research on direct cash transfer by Nobel Prize recipients Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, as well as economist Michael Greenstone of the University of Chicago. Niehaus finds these results encouraging, even as research on direct giving continues at a national scale in places like Rwanda and Malawi. "We're asking the question, if you come in and give people one-time wealth transfers, what does that get you?" he explained. The impact can vary based on a range of variables. Among them are how larger amounts compare with smaller universal basic income-like payments over time, how demographics like age affect preferences and specific goals the cash support is meant to help people achieve. Those goals are self-directed and articulated by the people themselves, Niehaus said, with GiveDirectly data showing that about $1,000 U.S. dollars, given in a lump sum, translates in a year or so to improved income and assets, health outcomes and community life. "There's a lot of diversity within an ethical worldview," Niehaus said, with many donors looking for market efficiencies and quantitative data to support the direct cash approach. Others may place more focus on anti-poverty work itself, or on a limited scope like coffee and specific crops. Program success is achieved through tech-driven tools for both facilitating donor gifts and managing individual digital accounts in places like Kenya. Niehaus says the model essentially works everywhere, although security challenges can limit operations in some communities. Yet there's no one-size-fits-all answer, and research helps the GiveDirectly team to see the ethical implications of how they define and assess poverty, as well as how aid works in the real world. Niehaus says he increasingly spends time helping younger academics to refine their thinking on how to make a difference while designing research approaches. "Research helps us to find out what matters to people," Niehaus added. He looks forward to sharing some of those same insights during the Ford Program lecture. Founded in 2008 with a gift from the family of University of Notre Dame Trustee W. Douglas Ford, the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, part of the Kellogg Institute in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, promotes Integral Human Development through community-engaged research, teaching and service aimed at understanding and addressing the challenges of extreme poverty while fostering human dignity and flourishing. Originally published by the Kellogg Institute at kellogg.nd.edu on April 20.

Cash is arriving as mothers navigate a more costly health system. GiveDirectly, Inc. launched this pilot roughly a year after Kenya replaced a program that covered delivery costs even for women without registration documents. The new system requires families to register for national health insurance and pay 2.75% of their monthly income (at least ~$2.50 per month). Women told GiveDirectly, Inc. that costs like insurance enrollment, transport, and clinic fees can push families toward home deliver, even when they know hospital births are safer. But they also cited barriers cash alone can't fix, including difficulty reaching facilities and challenging experiences at certain clinics. But early spending data suggest cash is helping mothers overcome some of the new cost barriers: more than 1 in 4 report using part of their transfer to pay insurance fees under the new system, and GiveDirectly, Inc. expect a clearer picture of how cash is influencing health outcomes after its midline survey in May. GiveDirectly, Inc. is tracking three signals to understand whether the program is working as expected. While the cash is unconditional, the goal is better health outcomes for mothers and babies. Early spending patterns are one aspect of three key questions GiveDirectly, Inc. is tracking: 1⃣ Are mothers using cash to get care? Women report how they're spending and if it helps cover costs like clinic visits, insurance registration, medicines, or transport. 2⃣ Are they better able to prepare for birth? Women report on their food security, stress levels, and whether they feel able to make decisions about their health and their baby's. 3⃣ Are they getting more care during and after pregnancy? Surveys and data from health authorities help track rates of prenatal visits, facility deliveries, birth weights, and postpartum care. Over time, GiveDirectly, Inc.'ll have clearer answers. Early spending data (1⃣) are promising, and upcoming midline results will show how mothers are preparing for birth (2⃣). Health outcome data (3⃣) are just beginning to come in, though it will take time before GiveDirectly, Inc. can make any strong conclusions. So far, GiveDirectly, Inc. is not seeing signs that giving cash to mothers is creating conflict at home. Some supporters have asked whether sending cash to pregnant women could cause arguments at home about how the money is used. So far, GiveDirectly, Inc. see little evidence of this: men have generally been supportive during enrollment, and reports of conflict related to how cash is spent have been rare (just two cases to date). GiveDirectly, Inc. is also monitoring whether the program influences future pregnancy decisions and expect clearer insight in the coming months. Encouragingly, studies of cash programs in similar places find no evidence that cash leads to more pregnancies. GiveDirectly, Inc. is expanding the pilot in Kenya and launching in other countries. In partnership with county health leaders, GiveDirectly, Inc. is expanding the program to more communities across Kenya, with a goal of reaching 5,300 women by the end of 2026. GiveDirectly, Inc. is also launching the program in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Panzi Hospital and exploring expanding to other countries where this approach could be effective. Later this year, GiveDirectly, Inc. expect to share early findings on maternal and newborn health from the Kenya pilot as more mothers give birth and follow-up surveys roll out in May. The program is growing, and so is its understanding of what works best to support healthier mothers and babies. GiveDirectly, Inc.'ll keep learning out loud as GiveDirectly, Inc. go.