scholarly journals Feasibility of Integrating Agriculture and Nutrition Behavior Change Interventions with Cash Transfers in Rural Bangladesh: A Mixed-methods Assessment (P10-126-19)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraful Alam ◽  
Wajiha Khatun ◽  
Mansura Khanam ◽  
Gulshan Ara ◽  
Mu Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Mobile Banking ◽  
Nutrition Counseling ◽  
Rural Bangladesh ◽  
Behavior Change Interventions ◽  
Nutrition Sensitive

Abstract Objectives The study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention package that combines nutrition-specific (nutrition counseling) and nutrition-sensitive (counseling and support for agriculture and unconditional cash transfers) interventions delivered on a mobile phone platform for improving maternal and child nutrition behaviors among low-income families in rural Bangladesh. Methods The intervention included counseling on homestead gardening techniques and infant feeding by community level agriculture and nutrition workers using smartphone apps. Women received weekly individual counseling at home and group counselling fortnightly. Each participating woman received a monthly unconditional cash transfer of BDT 1200 through a mobile banking system (bKash) for six months. We collect data through in-depth interviews and a cross sectional survey of the participants and their family members. Results The women were interested in both agriculture and nutrition counseling and understood the messages. They established homestead gardens of seasonal vegetables successfully that included preparing beds, planting seedlings, nurturing the plans and harvesting. Seasonal rainfall and damage by hens and ducks were major challenges but most of the families were able to find a solution. Many women preferred to consume the vegetables they produced and spent the cash provided on purchasing other nutritious foods such as fruits, egg and milk for their children as advised in the counseling. The project implementation staff and the bKash agent did not report any difficulties in using the mobile banking system for cash transfer. Conclusions Combining nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions is a feasible and acceptable approach to the community. Using mobile phone technologies can provide additional benefits for the intervention to reach the disadvantage families in rural settings of Bangladesh. Funding Sources Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA).

scholarly journals “In the past, the seeds I planted often didn’t grow.” A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Assessment of Integrating Agriculture and Nutrition Behaviour Change Interventions with Cash Transfers in Rural Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 4153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraful Alam ◽  
Wajiha Khatun ◽  
Mansura Khanam ◽  
Gulshan Ara ◽  
Anowarul Bokshi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Intervention Package ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Rural Bangladesh ◽  
Home Gardening

Combining agriculture with behaviour change communication and other nutrition-sensitive interventions could improve feeding practices to reduce maternal and child undernutrition. Such integrated intervention requires rigorous design and an appropriate implementation strategy to generate an impact. We assessed feasibility and acceptability of an intervention package that combines nutrition counselling, counselling and support for home-gardening, and unconditional cash transfers delivered to women on a mobile platform for improving maternal and child nutrition behaviours among low-income families in rural Bangladesh. We used mixed-methods including in-depth interviews with women (20), key-informant interviews with project workers (6), and a cross sectional survey of women (60). Women well-accepted the intervention and reported to be benefited by acquiring new skills and information on home gardening and nutrition. They established homestead gardens of seasonal vegetables successfully and were able to find a solution for major challenges. All women received the cash transfer. Ninety-one percent of women spent the cash for buying foods, 20% spent it on purchasing seeds or fertilizers and 57% used it for medical and livelihood purchases. Project staff and mobile banking agent reported no difficulty in cash transfer. Combining nutrition-specific and -sensitive interventions is a feasible and acceptable approach. Using mobile technologies can provide additional benefits for the intervention to reach the disadvantage families in rural settings.

scholarly journals The ASHA (Hope) Project: Testing an Integrated Depression Treatment and Economic Strengthening Intervention in Rural Bangladesh: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Alison Karasz ◽  
Shabnam Anne ◽  
Jena Derakhshani Hamadani ◽  
Fahmida Tofail
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Depression Treatment ◽  
Rural Bangladesh ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Low Income Women ◽  
Economic Strengthening ◽  
Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Depression, a debilitating disorder, is highly prevalent among low-income women in low- and middle-income countries. Standard psychotherapeutic approaches may be helpful, but low treatment uptake, low retention, and transient treatment effects reduce the benefit of therapy. This pilot randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness and feasibility of an integrated depression treatment/economic strengthening intervention. The study took place in two villages in the Sirajganj district in rural Bangladesh. Forty-eight low-income women with depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score ≥ 10) were recruited and randomized to intervention or control arms. The intervention included a six-month group-based, fortnightly depression management and financial literacy intervention, which was followed by a cash-transfer of $186 (equivalent to the cost of two goats) at 12 months’ follow-up. The cash transfer could be used to purchase a productive asset (e.g., agricultural animals). The control arm received no intervention. Findings showed significant reduction in depression scores in the intervention group. The mean PHQ-9 score decreased from 14.5 to 5.5 (B ± SE, −9.2 ± 0.8 95% CI −10.9, −7.5, p < 0.01) compared to no change in the control group. Most other psycho-social outcomes, including tension, self-esteem, hope, social-support, and participation in household economic decision-making, also improved with intervention. An integrated depression treatment and financial empowerment intervention was found to be highly effective among rural low-income women with depression. Next steps involve formal testing of the model in a larger trial.

scholarly journals Shonjibon cash and counselling: a community-based cluster randomised controlled trial to measure the effectiveness of unconditional cash transfers and mobile behaviour change communications to reduce child undernutrition in rural Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanvir M. Huda ◽  
Ashraful Alam ◽  
Tazeen Tahsina ◽  
Mohammad Mehedi Hasan ◽  
Afrin Iqbal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Child Undernutrition ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Cluster Randomised ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfers

Abstract Background Undernutrition is strongly associated with poverty - levels of undernutrition are higher in poor countries than in better-off countries. Social protection especially cash transfer is increasingly recognized as an important strategy to accelerate progress in improving maternal and child nutrition. A critical method to improve nutrition knowledge and influence feeding practices is through behaviour change communication intervention. The Shonjibon Cash and Counselling study aims to assess the effectiveness of unconditional cash transfers combined with a mobile application on nutrition counselling and direct counselling through mobile phone in reducing the prevalence of stunting in children at 18 months. Method The study is a longitudinal cluster randomised controlled trial, with two parallel groups, and cluster assignment by groups of villages. The cohort of mother-child dyads will be followed-up over the intervention period of approximately 24 months, starting from recruitment to 18 months of the child’s age. The study will take place in north-central Bangladesh. The primary trial outcome will be the percentage of stunted children at 18 m as measured in follow up assessments starting from birth. The secondary trial outcomes will include differences between treatment arms in (1) Mean birthweight, percentage with low birthweight and small for gestational age (2) Mean child length-for age, weight for age and weight-for-length Z scores (3) Prevalence of child wasting (4) Percentage of women exclusively breastfeeding and mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding (5) Percentage of children consuming > 4 food groups (6) Mean child intake of energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat and micronutrients (7) Percentage of women at risk of inadequate nutrient intakes in all three trimesters (8) Maternal weight gain (9) Household food security (10) Number of events for child suffering from diarrhoea, acute respiratory illness and fever (11) Average costs of mobile phone BCC and cash transfer, and benefit-cost ratio for primary and secondary outcomes. Discussion The proposed trial will provide high-level evidence of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of mobile phone nutrition behavior change communication, combined with unconditional cash transfers in reducing child undernutrition in rural Bangladesh. Trial registration The study has been registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12618001975280).

scholarly journals Mobile Banking Adoption Among Rural Consumers: Evidence from India

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-315
Author(s):  
Malaya Ranjan Mohapatra ◽  
Nirmalkumar Singh Moirangthem ◽  
Pankaj Vishwakarma
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Mobile Banking ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Effort Expectancy ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
Facilitating Conditions

Recently, Financial Inclusion has received greater attention, as it is a key to economic growth and equality, growth of the business, and stability of financial and banking systems. In the process of understanding how technology is useful for financial inclusion, the study tries to understand the elements that prompt the perceived acceptability of mobile banking among the low income and low literate stratum. To explore these elements, the current piece of work utilized the Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and with the addition of component of perceived risk. The research utilized convenience sampling to collect data from the respondents having Jan Dhan account. The results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and perceived risk have a significant influence on intention to use mobile banking among financial inclusion stratum. Surprisingly, the facilitating conditions were found insignificant. The outcomes of the research can guide banks and technology houses to develop a more user-acceptable mobile banking system. Also, the outcome will help policymakers to enhance mobile banking system adoption for financial inclusion by considering influencing elements.

Cash transfers for families and children in Argentina, Brazil and Chile: segmented expansion or universal benefits?

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila Arza
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
The Social ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
Family Allowances

AbstractOver the past two decades, most Latin American countries have developed cash transfer programmes for poor and low income families not covered by the social security system. These programmes now benefit about 127 million people throughout Latin America and in some countries they include more children than the family allowances of the social insurance system. How have these innovations changed the structure of child benefits in Latin America? This article discusses this issue by looking at the experiences of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. In these three countries, a wide-ranging programme of non-contributory cash transfers for low income families now operates alongside a pre-existing scheme of family allowances for formal sector workers. This has contributed to expand coverage of cash benefits for families and children, while at the same time keeping a segmented benefit structure. In contrast, a universal child benefit could overcome this segmentation and guarantee equal rights to all children.

scholarly journals Mobile-Based Nutrition Counseling and Unconditional Cash Transfers for Improving Maternal and Child Nutrition in Bangladesh: Pilot Study (Preprint)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanvir M Huda ◽  
Ashraful Alam ◽  
Tazeen Tahsina ◽  
Mohammad Mehedi Hasan ◽  
Jasmin Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Nutrition Counseling ◽  
Intervention Package ◽  
Maternal And Child Nutrition ◽  
Voice Messaging ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfers

BACKGROUND Inappropriate feeding practices, inadequate nutrition knowledge, and insufficient access to food are major risk factors for maternal and child undernutrition. There is evidence to suggest that the combination of cash transfer and nutrition education improves child growth. However, a cost-effective delivery platform is needed to achieve complete, population-wide coverage of these interventions. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived appropriateness of an intervention package consisting of voice messaging, direct counseling, and unconditional cash transfers all on a mobile platform for changing perceptions on nutrition during pregnancy and the first year of a child’s life in a poor rural community in Bangladesh. METHODS We conducted a mixed-methods pilot study. We recruited 340 pregnant or recently delivered, lactating women from rural Bangladesh. The intervention consisted of an unconditional cash transfer combined with nutrition counseling, both delivered on a mobile platform. The participants received a mobile phone and BDT 787 per month (US $10). We used a voice messaging service to deliver nutrition-related messages. We provided additional nutrition counseling through a nutrition counselor from a call center. We carried out cross-sectional surveys at baseline and at the end of the study, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews with participants and their family members. RESULTS Approximately 89% (245/275) of participants reported that they were able to operate the mobile phones without much trouble. Charging of the mobile handsets posed some challenges since only approximately 45% (124/275) households in our study had electricity at home. Approximately 26% (72/275) women reported they had charged their mobile phones at their neighbor’s house, while 34% (94/275) reported that they charged it at a marketplace. Less than 10% (22/275) of women reported difficulties understanding the voice messages or direct counseling through mobile phones, while only 3% (8/275) of women reported they had some problems withdrawing cash from the mobile bank agent. Approximately 87% (236/275) women reported spending the cash to purchase food for themselves and their children. CONCLUSIONS The nature of our study precludes any conclusion about the effectiveness of the intervention package. However, the high coverage of our intervention and the positive feedback from the mothers were encouraging and support the feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of this program. Further research is needed to determine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of mobile-based nutrition counseling and unconditional cash transfers in improving maternal and child nutrition in Bangladesh.

A Financial Inclusion as a Catalyst for Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Akeem Olaide Abimbola
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Mobile Banking ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Level

The purpose of this article is to examine the role financial inclusion can play in the reduction of poverty in Nigeria. Financial inclusion which can be explained as access to formal financial services such as credit, savings and insurance opportunities is still very vague in developing countries such as Nigeria where there is high level of poverty. The country has a large number of ‘unbanked’ people whose business activities are not captured in the country’s economic reports. These ‘unbanked’ populaces are illiterates who are either unemployed or under employed and lack access to financial services and information, and are totally excluded in the financial ecosystem and market. It examines the roles of government and financial institutions and the use of various mobile initiatives such as mobile banking, mobile money, agent banking etc. as financial inclusion tools to stimulate poverty reduction. Time series analysis on data obtained from secondary sources between the periods of 1992 and 2016 was adopted by the authors and the study covered financial inclusion as it relates to unbanked people in Nigeria. Other empirical studies in this field were used to strengthen the OLS findings. It was concluded that majority of the ‘unbanked’ in Nigeria are low income people who do not have access to financial services and information on financial inclusion. While few are timid on the need to use a bank, a large number of them are willing to use banking services and believe the availability of these services will help improve their economic condition. At the end of the paper, it is recommended that the government should encourage Banks to continue to take advantage of all the financial inclusion policies of the government in mobilizing funds from the informal sector into the banking system and this can be best done by increasing the amount of customers within the financial system as a tool for encouraging financial inclusion and stimulating the economy and thereby reducing poverty in the country

Nesting Expectations: What Can the Mexican and Argentinean Cash Transfers Tell Us about the Development of Development?

1969 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Andrés Dapuez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Transfer Programs

Latin American cash transfer programs have been implemented aiming at particular anticipatory scenarios. Given that the fulfillment of cash transfer objectives can be calculated neither empirically nor rationally a priori, I analyse these programs in this article using the concept of an “imaginary future.” I posit that cash transfer implementers in Latin America have entertained three main fictional expectations: social pacification in the short term, market inclusion in the long term, and the construction of a more distributive society in the very long term. I classify and date these developing expectations into three waves of conditional cash transfers implementation.

Effect of Cash Transfer on School Dropout Rates using Longitudinal Data Modelling: A Randomized Trial of Research Initiative to Support the Empowerment of girls (RISE) in Zambia

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 507-515
Author(s):  
Mutale Sampa ◽  
Choolwe Jacobs ◽  
Patrick Musonda
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Trial ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
School Dropout ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Dropout Rates ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Rural Zambia

Background: School dropout rates, as well as early marriages and pregnancies, are high among adolescent girls in rural Zambia. In the quest to fight this, the Research Initiative to Support the Empowerment of girls (RISE) trial has been providing cash transfers and community dialogues to adolescent girls in rural Zambia. The overall goal of the study was to establish the effects of cash transfers on adolescent girls’ school dropout rates in selected provinces of Zambia. Methods: The study was nested in the RISE trial which is a cluster randomized trial conducted in Central and Southern provinces of Zambia. A total of 3500 adolescent girls were included in the study. Random intercepts model was used to model the individual effects estimates, taking account of the dependency that was likely to occur due to the repeated measurements and clustering in the study. Results: Girls who were married or cohabiting and girls who had given birth, were significantly less likely to be in school (OR=0.004, 95% CI {0.001-0.02}, p-value=<0.0001) and (OR=0.003, 95% CI {0.02-0.04}, p-value=<0.0001) respectively. Consistently receiving cash transfers increased the chance of a girl being in school (OR=8.51, 95% CI {4.50-16.08}, p-value=<0.0001). There was an indication that the combined intervention arm had a reduced chance of girls being in school, however, we could not rule out chance finding (OR=0.89, 95% CI {0.59-1.36}, p=0.606). Conclusion: The study found that marriage or cohabiting and giving birth whilst in school reduce the chances of the girl continuing schooling. No significant association could be attributed to the type of intervention, However, consistent receipt of cash transfers was shown to be a protective factor of school dropout rates in the study.

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