We investigated the nexus between a cash-transfer program and creation of income-generating activities using evidence from rural Burundi. The cash-transfer program, named “Terintambwe,” was designed as a package of four interventions that included a cash transfer to support household consumption, savings services, coaching services, and another cash transfer to start an income-generating activity. Three key findings emerged from our analysis. First, participation in the Terintambwe program was positively and significantly associated with the likelihood of creating an income-generating activity. Second, this positive association was driven mainly by two interventions: savings services and cash transfer to start an IGA. Third, we observed a gender-based pattern in that positive association: participation in the program was more positively and significantly associated with the creation of women-owned income-generating activities that it was with the creation of income-generating activities owned by men. More specifically, this gender pattern was driven by coaching services that benefited creation of women-owned income-generating activities only.
