GiveDirectly runs the world's largest and longest-running universal basic income experiment, sending unconditional mobile-money transfers to roughly 23,000 people across 195 rural Kenyan villages since 2017, with a control arm of about 100 further villages. It is funded by private philanthropy, not by the Kenyan or any other government, and is evaluated by academic economists as a randomized controlled trial.
None (fiat). Delivered over M-Pesa mobile money.
Private philanthropy - individual donors, foundations and effective-altruism funders give to GiveDirectly, which passes the money through. No token, no government budget.
GiveDirectly, a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with an independent academic research team (Abhijit Banerjee, Michael Faye, Paul Niehaus, Tavneet Suri and colleagues) and evaluation support from J-PAL and Innovations for Poverty Action.
Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus (GiveDirectly co-founders); Tavneet Suri (MIT), Abhijit Banerjee (MIT) - lead researchers
Ongoing. Launched 2017 as a roughly $30M programme; long-term arm receives payments for 12 years, with some recipients scheduled to be paid through 2029. First major results published December 2023; further waves since. GiveDirectly also runs basic income programmes in Malawi and Mozambique.
- Arms: $22.50/month for 12 years (long-term), $22.50/month for 2 years (short-term), and a one-time ~$500 lump sum; current headline transfers are around $40/month after inflation adjustment.
- Key 2023-2026 finding: recipients did not work less; long-term-guarantee recipients outperformed short-term recipients on food security and enterprise formation.
- The directory already lists "Future First (GiveDirectly / Coinbase)", which is a separate crypto-rails pilot by the same organisation. This entry is the flagship Kenya UBI RCT - please check whether the owner wants them merged.