Over the last decades, there has been a proliferation of cash transfer programmes across the global South. Digital technologies have given this seeming countermovement a boost by promising to instantaneously transfer cash from the coffers of development agencies and national governments to the pockets of the poor, sidestepping the neo-patrimonial state. With the COVID-19 crisis, tech billionaires have teamed up with development institutions to fast-track ‘digital payment ecosystems’ under the guise of financial inclusion and fiscal savings. Much has been written about how such initiatives accelerate the financialization of social welfare and collateralization of the poor by trapping cash transfer recipients in relations of credit and debt. Less has been written about grassroots strategies to claw back power from digital control. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Mozambique, this article explores three sites of contention at the interface of digital technologies and cash transfer administration: the development of an information management system, the application of a proxy means test and the outsourcing of cash transfer payments to private providers. While not always successful, the article concludes, counter-hegemonic repertoires of action are critical to shaping the terms of cash transfer administration amidst a global ‘war of position’ in policy making.

中文翻译：

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即兴电子状态：莫桑比克现金转移数字化的斗争

在过去的几十年里，全球南方出现了大量现金转移计划。数字技术承诺立即将现金从发展机构和国家政府的金库转移到穷人的腰包，避开新世袭制国家，从而推动了这种看似相反的运动。随着 COVID-19 危机，科技亿万富翁与开发机构合作，以普惠金融和财政储蓄为幌子，快速推进“数字支付生态系统”。关于此类举措如何通过将现金转移接受者困在信贷和债务关系中来加速社会福利的金融化和穷人的抵押，已经写了很多。关于从数字控制中夺回权力的草根战略的报道较少。本文借鉴在莫桑比克进行的民族志研究，探讨了数字技术和现金转移管理接口的三个争论点：信息管理系统的开发、代理经济状况调查的应用以及将现金转移支付外包给私人提供者。文章总结道，虽然并非总是成功，但在全球政策制定“立场战”中，反霸权行动对于塑造现金转移管理的条款至关重要。代理经济状况调查的应用和将现金转移支付外包给私人提供者。文章总结道，虽然并非总是成功，但在全球政策制定“立场战”中，反霸权行动对于塑造现金转移管理的条款至关重要。代理经济状况调查的应用和将现金转移支付外包给私人提供者。文章总结道，虽然并非总是成功，但在全球政策制定“立场战”中，反霸权行动对于塑造现金转移管理的条款至关重要。