IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v124y2019ic2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Make the village better: An evaluation of the Saemaul Zero Hunger Communities Project in Tanzania and Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Youngwan
  • Sohn, Hyuk-Sang
  • Park, Bokyeong

Abstract

A majority of people in developing countries suffer from chronic hunger due to food crises and poverty. This has attracted humanitarian organizations specializing in addressing hunger, food security and poverty to set up efforts aimed at reducing hunger and poverty among vulnerable communities. This study aims to evaluate the achievements of the Saemaul Zero Hunger Communities Project (SZHCP) of the World Food Program (WFP) implemented by Good Neighbors International (GNI) in partnership with Tanzanian and Bangladesh local governments, which ran from 2014 to 2018 in selected local communities in Tanzania and Bangladesh. The project targeted the most vulnerable communities to improve their livelihood and rural development programs in terms of food security, income generation, education, and infrastructure improvement through community-based activities. To collect information and data for evaluation, we conducted field research such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and household surveys in the target villages of the SZHCP in Tanzania and Bangladesh. Using qualitative analysis, difference-in-difference estimation, and linear regression on surveys of 1142 respondents, we show that the SZHCP significantly improved the livelihoods of beneficiaries in relation to zero hunger, and also increased income generation and promoted positive social changes. It has also helped to strengthen the capacity of communities to run development projects themselves. This study provides evidence-based analysis that could allow stakeholders and researchers to more fully engage with future community-based projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Youngwan & Sohn, Hyuk-Sang & Park, Bokyeong, 2019. "Make the village better: An evaluation of the Saemaul Zero Hunger Communities Project in Tanzania and Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:124:y:2019:i:c:2
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104652
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19303006
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104652?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Milford Bateman & Ha-Joon Chang, 2012. "Microfinance and the Illusion of Development: From Hubris to Nemesis in Thirty Years," World Economic Review, World Economics Association, vol. 2012(1), pages 1-13, September.
    2. Winters, Paul & Davis, Benjamin & Carletto, Gero & Covarrubias, Katia & Quiñones, Esteban J. & Zezza, Alberto & Azzarri, Carlo & Stamoulis, Kostas, 2009. "Assets, Activities and Rural Income Generation: Evidence from a Multicountry Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1435-1452, September.
    3. Holden, Stein & Barrett, Christopher B. & Hagos, Fitsum, 2006. "Food-for-work for poverty reduction and the promotion of sustainable land use: can it work?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 15-38, February.
    4. Mesfin Bezuneh & Brady J. Deaton & George W. Norton, 1988. "Food Aid Impacts in Rural Kenya," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 70(1), pages 181-191.
    5. Flug, Karnit & Spilimbergo, Antonio & Wachtenheim, Erik, 1998. "Investment in education: do economic volatility and credit constraints matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 465-481, April.
    6. Maldonado, Jorge H. & González-Vega, Claudio, 2008. "Impact of Microfinance on Schooling: Evidence from Poor Rural Households in Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2440-2455, November.
    7. Stephen G. Donald & Kevin Lang, 2007. "Inference with Difference-in-Differences and Other Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 221-233, May.
    8. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.
    9. Sooyoung Park, 2009. "Analysis of Saemaul Undong: a Korean rural development programme in the 1970s," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 16(2), pages 113-140, December.
    10. Natalie Chun & Makiko Watanabe, 2012. "Can skill diversification improve welfare in rural areas? Evidence from Bhutan," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 214-234, June.
    11. Mark M. Pitt & Shahidur R. Khandker, 1998. "The Impact of Group-Based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 958-996, October.
    12. Grimm, Michael, 2011. "Does household income matter for children's schooling? Evidence for rural Sub-Saharan Africa," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 740-754, August.
    13. Shahidur R. Khandker, 2005. "Microfinance and Poverty: Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(2), pages 263-286.
    14. repec:wea:worler:v:2012:y:2012:i:1:p:2 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Fearon, James D. & Humphreys, Macartan & Weinstein, Jeremy M., 2015. "How Does Development Assistance Affect Collective Action Capacity? Results from a Field Experiment in Post-Conflict Liberia," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(3), pages 450-469, August.
    16. Davis, Benjamin & Winters, Paul & Carletto, Gero & Covarrubias, Katia & Quiñones, Esteban J. & Zezza, Alberto & Stamoulis, Kostas & Azzarri, Carlo & DiGiuseppe, Stefania, 2010. "A Cross-Country Comparison of Rural Income Generating Activities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 48-63, January.
    17. Ahmed, Akhter U. & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Nasreen, Mahbuba & Hoddinott, John F. & Bryan, Elizabeth, 2009. "Comparing Food and Cash Transfers to the Ultra-Poor in Bangladesh," Research reports 163, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Asim Ijaz Khwaja, 2004. "Is Increasing Community Participation Always a Good Thing?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 427-436, 04/05.
    19. Slaughter, Matthew J., 2001. "Trade liberalization and per capita income convergence: a difference-in-differences analysis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 203-228, October.
    20. Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong & Elizabeth Asiedu, 2015. "Remittances and investment in education: Evidence from Ghana," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 173-200, March.
    21. Ostrom, Elinor, 1996. "Crossing the great divide: Coproduction, synergy, and development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1073-1087, June.
    22. Bezu, Sosina & Holden, Stein, 2008. "Can food-for-work encourage agricultural production?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 541-549, December.
    23. Avdeenko, Alexandra & Gilligan, Michael J., 2015. "International Interventions to Build Social Capital: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Sudan," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(3), pages 427-449, August.
    24. Theodore W. Schultz, 1960. "Value of U.S. Farm Surpluses to Underdeveloped Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 42(5), pages 1019-1030.
    25. Titus O. Awokuse, 2011. "Food aid impacts on recipient developing countries: A review of empirical methods and evidence," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 493-514, May.
    26. Maxwell, S. J. & Singer, H. W., 1979. "Food aid to developing countries: A survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 225-246, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rahman, Syed Mahbubur & Mori, Akihisa & Rahman, Syed Mustafizur, 2022. "How does climate adaptation co-benefits help scale-up solar-powered irrigation? A case of the Barind Tract, Bangladesh," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 1039-1048.
    2. Melendres, Clark N. & Lee, Ji Yong & Kim, Bongkyun & Nayga, Rodolfo M., 2022. "Increasing yield and farm income of upland farmers: The case of Panay Island Upland Sustainable Rural Development Project in the Philippines," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferrière, Nathalie & Suwa-Eisenmann, Akiko, 2015. "Does Food Aid Disrupt Local Food Market? Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 114-131.
    2. Villegas, Laura & Smith, Vincent H. & Atwood, Joe & Belasco, Eric, 2016. "Does Participation In Public Works Programs Encourage Fertilizer Use In Rural Ethiopia?," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 1-24, April.
    3. van den Bold, Mara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Gillespie, Stuart, 2013. "Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review:," IFPRI discussion papers 1294, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Barr, Abigail & Owens, Trudy & Perera, Ashira, 2020. "Collective management of an environmental threat when exposure is heterogeneous – A complementary methods approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-34 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Barrett, Christopher B., 2006. "Food aid's intended and unintended consequences," ESA Working Papers 289062, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    7. Abdulai, Awudu & Barrett, Christopher B. & Hazell, Peter, 2004. "Food aid for market development in Sub-Saharan Africa," DSGD discussion papers 5, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Hoddinott, John & Margolies, Amy, 2012. "Mapping the Impacts of Food Aid: Current Knowledge and Future Directions," WIDER Working Paper Series 034, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Sawada, Yasuyuki & Aida, Takeshi & Griffen, Andrew S. & Kozuka, Eiji & Noguchi, Haruko & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2022. "Democratic institutions and social capital: Experimental evidence on school-based management from a developing country," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 267-279.
    10. Baldwin, Kate & Karlan, Dean & Udry, Christopher & Appiah, Ernest, 2023. "How political insiders lose out when international aid underperforms: Evidence from a participatory development experiment in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    11. Agnes Quisumbing & Bob Baulch & Neha Kumar, 2011. "Evaluating the long-term impact of anti-poverty interventions in Bangladesh: an overview," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 153-174.
    12. Akotey, Joseph Oscar & Adjasi, Charles K.D., 2016. "Does Microcredit Increase Household Welfare in the Absence of Microinsurance?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 380-394.
    13. Paul A. Onyina & Sean Turnell, 2013. "The Impacts Of A Microfinance Lending Scheme On Clients In Ghana," Accounting & Taxation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 5(2), pages 79-88.
    14. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2009. "Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-318, November.
    15. Thai, Pham Huu Hong, 2018. "Does household credit benefit child schooling for the poorest ethnic minorities? New evidence from a transitional economy," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 103-112.
    16. Simon Maxwell & Deryke Belshaw & Alemayehu Lirenso, 1994. "The Disincentive Effect Of Food‐For‐Work On Labour Supply And Agricultural Intensification And Diversification In Ethiopia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 351-359, September.
    17. Bezu, Sosina & Holden, Stein, 2008. "Can food-for-work encourage agricultural production?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 541-549, December.
    18. Madajewicz, Malgosia & Tompsett, Anna & Habib, Md. Ahasan, 2021. "How does delegating decisions to communities affect the provision and use of a public service? Evidence from a field experiment in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    19. Baulch, B., 2018. "Impacts of the 2016-17 Food Insecurity Response Program on maize prices in Malawi," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277330, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Abdulai, Awudu & Barrett, Christopher B. & Hoddinott, John, 2005. "Does food aid Really have disincentive effects? New evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1689-1704, October.
    21. Amy Margolies & John Hoddinott, 2012. "Mapping the Impacts of Food Aid: Current Knowledge and Future Directions," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-034, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:124:y:2019:i:c:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.