scholarly journals Using Evidence and Coalitions to Scale-Up a National Early Education Initiative: The Case of Law 248/2015 in Romania

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Gheorghiu ◽  
Leslie Hawke ◽  
Joost de Laat ◽  
Cǎtǎlina-Alexandra Papari

In 2015, Romania took an important step toward increasing disadvantaged children's participation in early education programmes through the passage of legislation creating a nationwide conditional cash transfer programme linked to preschool attendance. The programme was modeled on the incentive component of a 5-year pilot project “Every Child in Preschool” (“FCG”) initiated by Asociatia OvidiuRo (“OvR”), a small non-governmental organization. This paper explores how OvR used evidence from its pilot, global research, a quasi-experimental evaluation, collaboration with local authorities, and an intensive advocacy effort toward the legislative and executive branches of the national government to achieve the national scale-up of an early education initiative designed to create equal access in kindergarten among Roma and other impoverished, marginalized children.

Tendencias ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Vanessa Katherine Bolaños Guerrero ◽  
Daisy Viviana Triviño Jaramillo

En esta investigación se estudian algunas alteraciones generadas por el Programa “Familias en Acción” en la racionalidad económica de beneficiarios de este subsidio en la ciudad de San Juan de Pasto, Nariño, Colombia. Se parte de los postulados de la Economía del Comportamiento y de la metodología propuesta por la Economía Experimental. Mediante una plataforma de simulación, en el marco de un diseño cuasi-experimental, se analiza el comportamiento de los sujetos frente al consumo de bienes suntuarios, decisiones de ahorro e inversión y la búsqueda de un trabajo remunerado. Los hallazgos señalan que la recepción del subsidio otorgado por el programa no genera alteraciones significativas en las decisiones de ahorro, inversión y búsqueda de un empleo remunerado de los beneficiarios, sin embargo, se presenta un aumento en el consumo de bienes suntuarios, esta variación es mayor en la población que ha recibido el subsidio durante un período prolongado de tiempo, por lo cual podría afirmarse que un programa de transferencias condicionadas que se perpetúa durante mucho tiempo, genera hábitos de comportamiento en los beneficiarios contrarios a los esperados por la política. ABSTRACTThis current research studies some alterations generated by the program “Families in Action” on economic rationality of beneficiaries of this subsidy in the city of San Juan de Pasto, Nariño, Colombia. It starts the candidates’ Behavioral Economics and the methodology proposed by the Experimental Economics. Through a simulation platform, as part of a quasi-experimental design, the behavior of the subjects is analyzed by viewing the consume of sumptuary properties, saving and investment decisions and the search of a well-paid job. The findings indicate that the reception of the subsidy from the program does not generate significant changes in the decisions of beneficiaries about savings, investment and seeking gainful employment, however, an increase in the consumption of luxury goods is presented, this variation is higher in the population that has received the subsidy for an extended period of time, so it could be argued that a conditional cash transfer program that is perpetuated long, generates behavioral habits beneficiaries different from those expected by politics. RESUMOA presente investigação estuda algumas alterações geradas pelo programa “Famílias em Ação” na racionalidade econômica dos beneficiários deste subsídio, na cidade de San Juan de Pasto, Nariño, Colômbia. Começa dos candidatos Economia Comportamental e da metodologia proposta pela Economia Experimental. Através de um delineamento quasi-experimental, em que por meio de uma plataforma de simulação, se analiso o comportamento dos indivíduos frente ao consumo de bens de luxo, decisões de poupança e inversão e de procurar um trabalho remunerado. Os resultados indicam que a recepção do subsídio do programa não gera mudanças significativas nas decisões dos beneficiários sobre poupança, investimento e à procura de emprego remunerado, no entanto, um aumento no consumo de bens de luxo é apresentado, esta variação é maior no população que tem recebido osubsídio por um período prolongado de tempo, então pode-se argumentar que um programa de transferência condicionada de renda que se perpetua por muito tempo, gera hábitos comportamentais beneficiários diferentes dos esperados pela política.


2019 ◽  
Vol 149 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 2277S-2280S ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynnette M Neufeld ◽  
Rogelio Grados ◽  
Alejandría Villa de la Vega ◽  
Concepción Steta ◽  
Ferdinando Regalia ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe Progresa Conditional Cash Transfer program in Mexico began in 1997, with a strong evidence-based design. The program's ultimate objective was to foster the development of human capital through 3 components—education, health, and food. Rigorous impact evaluation generated evidence of impact on several outcomes, including child growth, but also aspects of program design and implementation challenges that may have limited impact. The objective of this supplement is to present research that led to the redesign of the health component, its implementation and evaluation at pilot scale, and its scale-up to national level, representing >15 y of collaboration among evaluators, program implementers, and funders. The studies used various methodologies, including process evaluation, cohort studies, ethnographic assessments, and a cluster-randomized trial, among others. The articles report previously unpublished results and citations of published literature. Article 1 uses an impact pathway to highlight gaps and bottlenecks that limited potential for greater impact, the original recognition of which was the impetus for this long collaboration. Article 2 explores the social and cultural factors that influence decisions to participate in programs and to adopt the actions proposed by them. Article 3 presents a cluster-randomized trial implemented to inform the choice of nutritional supplements for pregnant and lactating women and children 6–59 mo of age and how this and other evidence from the studies were used to redesign the health component of the program. Articles 4 and 5 present results of the development and pilot testing of the modified health component, the Integrated Strategy for Attention to Nutrition (abbreviated to EsIAN from its name in Spanish) (article 4), and the process and challenges of training and supervision in taking the EsIAN to scale (article 5). The final article provides reflections on the relevance of this body of work for implementation research in nutrition.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-274
Author(s):  
Juan Ponce ◽  
Carolina Curvale

Purpose This paper evaluates the argument that conditional cash transfer program recipients vote for the incumbent. We also test the hypothesis stating that ceasing to receive the benefit hinders support for the incumbent. Design/methodology/approach Using a regression discontinuity design, we assess the impact of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano cash transfer program on pro-incumbent voting of each of these four groups. Findings We did not find a significant impact of the transfer on pro-incumbent vote intention in any of the pairwise comparisons, which suggests that contextual factors determining retrospective voting may play an important role in shaping the relationship between pro-incumbent voting and social policy transfers. Originality/value Drawing on quasi-experimental evidence from Ecuador, where the eligibility criteria of the program changed exogenously, we evaluate the impacts of several treatments on pro-incumbent voting. We are able to identify four distinct groups: recipients under both eligibility criteria, nonrecipients under both criteria, new recipients and new nonrecipients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (10) ◽  
pp. 1780-1789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Lopez-Arana ◽  
Mauricio Avendano ◽  
Ian Forde ◽  
Frank J. van Lenthe ◽  
Alex Burdorf

AbstractConditional cash-transfer (CCT) programmes have been shown to improve the nutritional and health status of children from poor families. However, CCT programmes may have unintended and not fully known consequences by increasing the risk of overweight and obesity. We examined the impact of Familias en Acción (FA), a large CCT programme in Colombia, on the double burden of malnutrition among pre-school and school-aged children. Height and weight were measured before programme enrolment and during follow-ups in 1290 children from thirty-one treatment municipalities, being compared with 1584 children from sixty-two matched control municipalities. We used a difference-in-differences approach to evaluate the effect of FA on children’s stunting, BMI z-scores, thinness, overweight and obesity, controlling for individual and municipality-level confounders. At baseline, the prevalences of stunting and overweight were 30·3 and 15·4 %, respectively, in treatment municipalities and 27·9 and 17·4 % in control municipalities. FA was associated with reduced odds of thinness (OR 0·26; 95 % CI 0·09, 0·75) and higher BMI-for-age z-scores (BMI z-scores) (β 0·14; 95 % CI 0·00, 0·27; P<0·05), although the latter was of small clinical significance. The prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity decreased over time, but the effect of FA on these outcomes was not significant. The CCT programme in Colombia reduced the odds of thinness, but had no effect on stunting, a more prevalent outcome. The FA programme had no effect on overweight or obesity, although BMI z-scores were higher for children under treatment, raising the possibility of an increase of small clinical significance on BMI among pre-school and school-aged children.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Carter ◽  
Rhian Daniel ◽  
Ana W. Torrens ◽  
Mauro N. Sanchez ◽  
Ethel L. N. Maciel ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundSocial vulnerability is strongly associated with tuberculosis (TB) indicators like cure rate. By addressing key social determinants, social protection policies such as Brazil’s Bolsa Família Programme (BFP), a governmental conditional cash transfer, may play a role in TB control. Evidence is consolidating around a positive effect of social protection on TB outcomes, however methodological limitations prevent strong conclusions. This paper uses a quasi-experimental approach to more rigorously evaluate the effect of BFP on TB cure rate.Methods & FindingsThe data source was Brazil’s TB notification system (SINAN), linked to the national registry of those in poverty (CadUnico) and the BFP payroll. Propensity scores (PSs) were estimated from a complete-case logistic regression using covariates from this linked dataset, informed by a directed acyclic graph. Control patients were matched to exposed patients on the PS and the average effect of treatment on the treated (ATT) was estimated as the difference in TB cure rate between matched groups (n = 2167). The ATT was estimated as 10·58 (95% CIs: 4·39, 16·77). This suggests that 10·58% of the TB patients receiving BFP who were cured would not have been cured had they not received BFP. The direction of this effect was robust to sensitivity analyses performed and the PS matching broadly improved balance, although missing data limited the sample size.ConclusionsThis work is the first quasi-experimental evaluation of social protection in wide-scale practice on TB outcomes. It demonstrates a positive effect of conditional cash transfers on TB cure rate consistent with existing work, suggesting changes to policy and future research on increasing access to social protection for TB patients who remain uncovered by the programme.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Corrales-Herrero ◽  
Martina Him Camaño ◽  
Belén Miranda-Escolar ◽  
Olga Ogando Canabal

PurposeThe purpose of this paper seeks to gauge the impact of the Red de Oportunidades programme on the school attendance of children from households that participate in the programme.Design/methodology/approachIn order to measure the impact of the programme, the authors apply propensity score matching, a quasi-experimental technique that allows us to find an appropriate control group to compare with the treatment group.FindingsResults show that the programme does not always manage to bring into line school attendance of children from families involved in the programme with that of children from families who are not. Nevertheless, differences are still evident in terms of age, gender and geographical area.Practical implicationsConditional cash transfer programmes should be designed carefully, taking into account a great variety of factors such as geographical characteristics, educational resources and infrastructure, not only to replicate programmes that have proved to be effective in other countries. In this sense, it seems that the impact of cash transfers on primary school attendance can be wholly attributed to the programme, implying that it is better to allocate more resources to groups in terms of age and gender where education is still not universal.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time the impact of conditional cash transfers on school attendance has been examined in a country that still displays major geographical differences in terms of poverty, namely, Panama. The Red de Oportunidades programme has barely been studied.


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