the second phase of the SCG programme was only able to target the 100 oldest people in each sub county ‘who should have national identity cards’.79 • Phase 2b: In the current phase (still considered part of ESPII), beginning in November 2018, the Government of Uganda decided to make the programme ‘universal’ across all districts. During this phase of delivery, however, the programme is now limited to those 80 years or older.80 This restriction was driven by the need to make the rollout affordable, limiting the number of beneficiaries to an amount that the government could afford to pay.81 We understand that Irish Aid and DFID/ FCDO originally funded both the operational costs of the Programme Management Unit (PMU) as well as paid for the cash transfers. At present, we understand Irish Aid and FCDO fund 87,000 out of approximately 280,000 SCG beneficiaries and still fund PMU’s operational budget. The idea is that the Ugandan government will take over funding of the entire cost of the programme by 2022. The SCG has been a popular and promising programme with impact evaluations suggesting that it brings about reductions in extreme poverty; increases household expenditure; improves children’s educational attainment; improves food security, access to markets, and savings; and stimulates marketplaces.82 Government estimates suggest that it reduces the likelihood of living in poverty by almost 20 percentage points.83 The programme has also increased the autonomy and independence of older persons, who feel they add value to their families and the local community again.84 But the project has not been without challenges. The SCG has infrequent distribution days that require beneficiaries to travel to a central point to cash out their payments from the payment service provider.85 This means that beneficiaries often go for many months without receiving any grants and are forced to travel long distances to receive payments.86 One beneficiary described the process to us: Figure 9. Beneficiaries wait at a SCG distribution point in Kayunga. 36 Chased Away and Left to Die