Do cash transfers increase nutritional intakes? Experimental evidence from an unconditional cash transfer in Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 784-798
Author(s):  
Toshiaki Aizawa
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Caloric Intake ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Nutritional Intake ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfer

Abstract Malnutrition due to persistent food insecurity has been a serious public health issue in Kenya. An unconditional cash transfer programme, the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP), was launched in 2009 in northern Kenya to reduce extreme poverty and to mitigate food insecurity. This study investigates the impact of the HSNP, on expenditure on food, types of food consumed and nutritional intake. Focusing on nutritional intake as well as spending and consumption is important because an unconditional cash transfer, which does not specify how the transferred money must be used, does not guarantee nutritional intake improvement. Converting food consumption data to caloric intake and nutrient content using food consumption databases, we calculate the intake of five macro-nutrients, seven vitamins and seven minerals and then estimate the impacts on nutritional intake 12 and 24 months after treatment exposure. This study finds the increased total expenditure on food items. Specifically, the beneficiary households increased their expenditure on milk and milk products and that on sugar after 12 months and expenditure on roots and tubers after 24 months. For consumption amounts, however, the HSNP did not show significant increases in all food categories except sugar. On the other hand, the HSNP improved the nutritional intakes of some macro- and micro-nutrients. The results show that beneficiary households substantially increased their intake of fat by 25.2% after 24 months and their intake of vitamin B12 by 36.6% and calcium by 34.9% after 12 months. The result does not yield sufficiently strong evidence that poorer households significantly enjoy greater improvements than other households.

scholarly journals Assessing the impact of a combined nutrition counselling and cash transfer intervention on women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh: a randomised control trial protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e044263
Author(s):  
Elizabeth K Kirkwood ◽  
Michael John Dibley ◽  
John Frederick Hoddinott ◽  
Tanvir Huda ◽  
Tracey Lea Laba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Randomised Control Trial ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Rural Bangladesh ◽  
Nutrition Counselling ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfer

IntroductionThere is growing interest in assessing the impact of health interventions, particularly when women are the focus of the intervention, on women’s empowerment. Globally, research has shown that interventions targeting nutrition, health and economic development can affect women’s empowerment. Evidence suggests that women’s empowerment is also an underlying determinant of nutrition outcomes. Depending on the focus of the intervention, different domains of women’s empowerment will be influenced, for example, an increase in nutritional knowledge, or greater control over income and access to resources.ObjectiveThis study evaluates the impact of the Shonjibon Cash and Counselling (SCC) Trial that combines nutrition counselling and an unconditional cash transfer, delivered on a mobile platform, on women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh.Methods and analysisWe will use a mixed-methods approach, combining statistical analysis of quantitative data from 2840 women in a cluster randomised controlled trial examining the impact of nutrition behaviour change communications (BCCs) and cash transfers on child undernutrition. Pregnant participants will be given a smartphone with a customised app, delivering nutrition BCC messages, and will receive nutrition counselling via a call centre and an unconditional cash transfer. This study is a component of the SCC Trial and will measure women’s empowerment using a composite indicator based on the Project-Level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, with quantitative data collection at baseline and endline. Thematic analysis of qualitative data, collected through longitudinal interviews with women, husbands and mothers-in-law, will elicit a local understanding of women’s empowerment and the linkages between the intervention and women’s empowerment outcomes. This paper describes the study protocol to evaluate women’s empowerment in a nutrition-specific and sensitive intervention using internationally validated, innovative tools and will help fill the evidence gap on pathways of impact, highlighting areas to target for future programming.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been obtained from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (Ref. PR 17106) and The University of Sydney (Ref: 2019/840). Findings from this study will be shared in Bangladesh with dissemination sessions in-country and internationally at conferences, and will be published in peer-reviewed journals.

Social health and nutrition impacts of community kitchens: a systematic review

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Iacovou ◽  
Deanna C Pattieson ◽  
Helen Truby ◽  
Claire Palermo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Evidence Synthesis ◽  
Nutritional Intake ◽  
Cooking Skills ◽  
Nutritional Health ◽  
Community Kitchens ◽  
The Impact

AbstractObjectiveCommunity kitchens have been implemented by communities as a public health strategy to prevent food insecurity through reducing social isolation, improving food and cooking skills and empowering participants. The aim of the present paper was to investigate whether community kitchens can improve the social and nutritional health of participants and their families.DesignA systematic review of the literature was conducted including searches of seven databases with no date limitations.SettingCommunity kitchens internationally.SubjectsParticipants of community kitchens across the world.ResultsTen studies (eight qualitative studies, one mixed-method study and one cross-sectional study) were selected for inclusion. Evidence synthesis suggested that community kitchens may be an effective strategy to improve participants’ cooking skills, social interactions and nutritional intake. Community kitchens may also play a role in improving participants’ budgeting skills and address some concerns around food insecurity. Long-term solutions are required to address income-related food insecurity.ConclusionsCommunity kitchens may improve social interactions and nutritional intake of participants and their families. More rigorous research methods, for both qualitative and quantitative studies, are required to effectively assess the impact of community kitchens on social and nutritional health in order to confidently recommend them as a strategy in evidence-based public health practice.

The Impact of Emergency Cash Assistance in a Pandemic: Experimental Evidence from Colombia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Juliana Londoño-Vélez ◽  
Pablo Querubín
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Social Cooperation ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Health Food ◽  
Mobile Money ◽  
Cash Assistance ◽  
Emergency Assistance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfer

Abstract We study the impact of money on households during theCOVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, Colombia rolled out a new unconditional cash transfer (UCT) to one million households in povertyworth $19 (PPP $55.6) and paid every 5-8 weeks. Using an RCT and linked administrative and survey data, we find the UCT had positive (albeit modest) effects on measures of household well-being (e.g., financial health, food access). Moreover, the UCT boosted support for emergency assistance to households and firms during the crisis and promoted social cooperation. Finally, we explore the bottlenecks in expanding mobile money during a pandemic.

scholarly journals Efficiency, Legitimacy, and Impacts of Targeting Methods: Evidence from an Experiment in Niger

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Premand ◽  
Pascale Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
Program Effectiveness ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Transfer Program ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Means Testing ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Roll Out

Abstract The methods to select safety net beneficiaries are the subject of frequent debates. Targeting assessments usually focus on efficiency by documenting the pre-program profile of selected beneficiaries. This study provides a more comprehensive analysis of targeting performance through an experiment embedded in a national cash transfer program in Niger. Eligible villages were randomly assigned to have beneficiary households selected by community-based targeting (CBT), proxy-means testing (PMT), or a formula to identify the food-insecure (FCS). The study considers targeting legitimacy and the impact of targeting choice on program effectiveness based on data collected after program roll-out. PMT is more efficient in identifying households with lower consumption per capita. Nonbeneficiaries find formula-based methods (PMT and FCS) more legitimate than CBT. Manipulation and information imperfections affect CBT, which can explain why it is not the most legitimate. Program impacts on some welfare dimensions are larger among households selected by PMT than CBT.

scholarly journals Dampak Program Bantuan Tunai (Cash Transfer) terhadap Kesejahteraan Subyektif di Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ali Akbar Khomaini
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Family Satisfaction ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Cash Assistance ◽  
Children’S Wellbeing ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfer

Cash transfer programs have become the main poverty-alleviating policy in several developing countries. This study analyzes the perceived impact of Direct Cash Assistance (BLT) as an Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) program in Indonesia by examining beneficiary households’ subjective wellbeing. Two rounds of Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) panel data from 2007 (IFLS-4) and 2015 (IFLS-5) are used, from which this study take the subjective wellbeing indicators. Three main categories of subjective wellbeing components are developed using Principle Component Analysis (PCA): family satisfaction, future perception, and children. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and fixed effect methods are used to determine the impact of UCT program on subjective wellbeing. The Indonesian UCT program is negatively correlated or has no impact on improving recipients’ subjective wellbeing compared to that of non-recipients. Out of the three subjective wellbeing components, family satisfaction appears to have received significant and positive impact from the UCT program. UCT may also help beneficiaries maintain stable consumption level during short-term economic shocks, but future perception and children’s wellbeing perception are not found to be affected.

scholarly journals The Impact of urbanization on Food in Security in Amhara Regional State Metropolitan cities

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Besfat Dejen Engdaw ◽  
Melaku Debas Kebede
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Regional State ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

The process of urbanization in developing nations is attended without fast industrialization processes. As a result of this, the urbanization and urban process are accompanied by diverse problems. Hence this paper is aimed at identifying the effect of urbanization on citizens’ food insecurity by monitoring agricultural foodstuff production as a mediating variable.  A quantitative research methodology or approach has been used to depict out urban problems associated with unmanaged urbanization in the Ethiopian, particularly in Amhara regional state.   Structural Equation Modeling was employed to run a mediation analysis by decomposing the direct and indirect effects of one variable on the other. Correlation and regression analyses were executed to measure the direction and magnitude of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent. Regression analysis results indicated the existence of a significant direct effect of urbanization on food insecurity of citizens. The mediation analysis result shows agricultural foodstuff production doesn’t play a mediating role between urbanization and food insecurity. The paper, having traced out the effect of the urbanization on food insecurity, provides possible recommendations. The regional government should be very considerate about the pace of unmanaged, unindustrialized and unemployment induced urbanization. The regional government should address all pushing factors that are dragging farmers into the urban areas. So, it is important to find ways to make farmers beneficial from their farm activities. In this regard, the problem raised by farmers is the inability to settle the debt from fertilizers and improved seeds or at least what they get from selling what they have produced is used to settle their farm debt. Some policy measures such as subsidizing the farmer or extending the repayment period of their debt are then essential to help farmers lead a stable life and lead their families. The government/concerned body need to make a cost-benefit analysis by weighing the pressure from the migration of the farmers and the cost of subsidizing the farmers: compare prevention with curative. Moreover, as a short-term solution, the regional government should identify food unsecured urban households and embrace them in food security packages like urban safety-net programs.  And enhancing the limited income generation capacity of food insecured households.  Key words: Urbanization, Food in Security, Agricultural Foodstuff Production, Amhara Region

Forecast based action: developing triggers for preventing food insecurity in Eastern Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc van den Homberg ◽  
Gabriela Guimarães Nobre ◽  
Edward Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Choice Experiments ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Potential Cost ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Early Action ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Transfer Mechanisms

<p>The project “Forecast based Financing for Food Security” (F4S) was initiated in July 2019 with the aim to provide a deeper understanding of how forecast information could be routinely used as a basis for financing early action for preventing food insecurity in pilot areas in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. The F4S project is linked to the existing Innovative Approaches in Response Preparedness Project and is in response to the growing interest and attention placed in recent years by academic institutions, development and humanitarian agencies on creating evidence that can leverage risk prevention and disaster risk reduction.</p><p>To ensure adequate forecast-based actions one needs to have the right information and evidence to guide fast decision-making. Key enabling aspects are an understanding of the impact of food insecurity, the resources needed to address it and an insight in the associated costs, beneficiaries’ preferences and lead times. In response to that, the F4S is currently:</p><ul><li>Developing an impact-based probabilistic food insecurity forecasting model using Machine Learning algorithms and datasets of food insecurity drivers;</li> <li>Collecting local evidence on food insecurity triggers and information on individual preferences on key design elements of cash transfer mechanisms through surveys and choice experiments;</li> <li>Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of different cash transfer mechanisms.</li> </ul><p>This PICO presentation seeks to share lessons learnt and preliminary results on the development of triggers for enabling early action against the first signs of food insecurity in Eastern Africa. It presents key results obtained through surveys and choice experiments regarding local knowledge in association with food insecurity and aid design. Furthermore, it presents the potential cost-effectiveness and advantages of acting based on forecasts.</p>

scholarly journals Effects of family income and conditional cash transfers on household food insecurity: evidence from a longitudinal study in Northeast Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 756-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poliana A Palmeira ◽  
Rosana Salles-Costa ◽  
Rafael Pérez-Escamilla
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Household Food Insecurity ◽  
Northeast Brazil ◽  
Household Food ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractObjective:Food insecurity (FI) is a challenge to policy makers worldwide, who need to understand which polices and programmes are effective at overcoming FI. The present study aimed to examine the impact of family income and conditional cash transfers on changes in household FI status in a highly vulnerable municipality in Northeast Brazil.Design:A population-based longitudinal cohort study among families in a municipality in the semi-arid area in Northeast Brazil (2011 and 2014). FI was estimated with the Brazilian Household Food Insecurity Measurement Scale (EBIA). The effects of family income and cash transfer on changes in FI were estimated using logistic regression models and the population-attributable risk fraction.Setting:Households in Cuité, Paraíba, Brazil.Participants:Household respondents interviewed in 2011 (n 358) and 2014 (n 326).Results:There was a reduction in FI prevalence of 17·5 % across time; 24·5 % of families who were food insecure in 2011 became food secure in 2014. After adjustment, families that did not experience an increase in their total household income or a reduction in the cash transfer amount were at increased risk of persistent FI across time. If the cash transfer programme had not been in place, about 10 % of the families that switched from food insecure to food secure across time would have remained in FI instead.Conclusions:The decrease of FI occurred in an area of extreme climatic and social vulnerability. These changes were more related to the cash transfer than the increase in family income over time.

The Impact of Mothers' Dietary Patterns on Children's Nutritional Status in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 719-731
Author(s):  
Daisheng Tang ◽  
Tao Bu ◽  
Yahong Liu ◽  
Xuefan Dong
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Dietary Patterns ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Food Group ◽  
Nutritional Intake ◽  
Dietary Quality ◽  
Nutrition Survey ◽  
The Impact

Objective: We studied the effect of mothers' dietary patterns on their children's nutritional status. Methods: Based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) packages in 2004, 2006, 2009, and 2011, mothers' dietary quality scores were calculated using the Dietary Balance Index-07. We further explored the influence of maternal dietary patterns on children's nutritional status using a series of regression analyses with time and province fixed effects in longitudinal study, simultaneouly considering the differential impact of child's age, multigenerational co-residence, and categories of maternal food consumption. Results: Maternal food consumption was slightly higher than what is required, and each food group positively correlated between mothers and their children. Furthermore, the maternal dietary quality score on the children's energy intake was significant. The influence of maternal dietary patterns on children's nutritional intake increases gradually with the child's age, but multigenerational co-residence has the opposite effect. Furthermore, maternal food intake of cereals, vegetables, beans, and meat has a positive impact on children's nutritional intake. Conclusions: Maternal dietary patterns have a significant impact on children's nutritional status. The consumption of meat and multigenerational co-residence should be given high priority.

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