<![CDATA[This study examined whether moving cash assistance forward reduced short-run welfare losses among drought-affected households in Niger. It reanalysed verified estimates from a randomized government program that assigned eligible villages to three payment schedules with the same total transfer value. The primary comparison contrasted four large payments delivered before the 2022 lean season with the traditional four-payment schedule delivered during the lean season. Food Consumption Score, monthly food consumption, and borrowing were used to assess short-run welfare and coping. Earlier large payments increased pre-lean food consumption and food security and reduced borrowing relative to the traditional schedule. These differences reversed when the traditional group began receiving transfers and largely disappeared after the lean season. Smaller monthly payments that also started early produced weaker gains, indicating that timing alone did not determine welfare effects. The findings supported a bounded Welfare Protection Window in which sufficiently large liquidity could reduce costly coping before seasonal welfare pressure peaked.]]>
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