We have seen situations where recipients have moved from their original villages to small towns or lake sides to look for work. People who previously were grounded in their villages now say, ‘You know what? I have some little money. I can travel. I can afford a house for $5, and so I can take the risk to stay in a neighbouring town and look for a job. And if I get that job, it can supplement what I'm doing.’

I remember one lady who, the moment she started receiving the basic income, left her baby with her mother. For six months she went to the nearest town and started a small business. That business grew, and today she has taken back her baby. This money gave her a head start in opening a small business, and now that business can take care of the two of them.

We also see parents taking their children to school, responding to their medical needs, including taking out government medical insurance so that they can better handle risks. It’s as if basic income is giving people a new lease of life. I have seen them become vibrant, as if they’re living life anew. Why? Because basic income has increased the number of meals people take in a day. Nutrition has improved across board.

While fully acknowledging that these results are preliminary and anecdotal, it appears that the recipients are experiencing a positive, emancipatory effect in terms of autonomy and wellbeing. That confirms the results of some of the other trials that have taken place around the world.

I can't agree more. Basic income is empowering, and especially if it is unconditional. By the wonder of basic income, people get a choice. They get their dignity back. It increases trust, it brings about peace, it promotes unity within the community.

Mobilisation within the community has also taken on a new dynamic. People come together to save or lend each other money, and are able to buy goods on credit because they know they can pay. That confidence and increased purchasing power helps local businesses to thrive.

One of the things that we’re particularly interested in at Beyond Trafficking and Slavery is this idea of freedom in relation to work. In your conversations with recipients, are people speaking about a change in experience in the world of work as a result of their basic income?

Most of the people were not working in the villages we’ve gone to. A few people had income of some sort, but I can say that over 90% of them did not have jobs. These are people who still had to find food, send their children to school, and occasionally go to hospital, yet they didn't know where the next coin was going to come from. To mend that, they left their homes to go out and look for whatever came their way. Those whatevers ranged from making charcoal to working on construction sites or farms, cleaning people's compounds, working as maids or servants. They had no choice but to accept what they were offered.

The people who have now stopped working in those construction sites say, ‘I went there because I needed something for my family to start from. Even though I owned a farm I had to work for other people. Today, they have something to start from. Therefore I can work on my farm. I can produce food on my farm. I can provide food from the resource that I have.’