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Can conditional cash transfers improve education and nutrition outcomes for poor children in Bangladesh ? evidence from a pilot project

Author

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  • Ferre, Celine
  • Sharif, Iffath

Abstract

There is an increasing recognition that investment in human development at an earlier age can have a significant impact on the lifetime earnings capacity of an individual. This notion is the basis for the popularity of conditional cash transfer programs to help boost child health and education outcomes. The evidence on the impact of conditional cash transfers on health and education outcomes, however, is mixed. This paper uses panel data from a pilot project and evaluates the impact of conditional cash transfers on consumption, education, and nutrition outcomes among poor rural families in Bangladesh. Given implementation challenges the intervention was not able to improve school attendance. However the analysis shows that the pilot had a significant impact on the incidence of wasting among children who were 10-22 months old when the program started, reducing the share of children with weight-for-height below two standard deviations from the World Health Organization benchmark by 40 percent. The pilot was also able to improve nutrition knowledge: there was a significant increase in the proportion of beneficiary mothers who knew about the importance of exclusively breastfeeding infants until the age of six months. The results also suggest a significant positive impact on food consumption, especially consumption of food with high protein content.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferre, Celine & Sharif, Iffath, 2014. "Can conditional cash transfers improve education and nutrition outcomes for poor children in Bangladesh ? evidence from a pilot project," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7077, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7077
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Juan Esteban Saavedra & Sandra Garcia, 2012. "Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs on Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries A Meta-analysis," Working Papers WR-921-1, RAND Corporation.
    2. Fuwa, Nobuhiko, 2001. "The Net Impact of the Female Secondary School Stipend Program in Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 23402, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Jorge M. Aguero & Michael R. Carter & Ingrid Woolard, 2006. "The Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Nutrition: The South African Child Support Grant," SALDRU Working Papers 8, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    4. Shonchoy, Abu S. & Ito, Seiro, 2011. "Ramadan school holidays as a natural experiment : impacts of seasonality on school dropout in Bangladesh," IDE Discussion Papers 295, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    5. Sharif, Iffath A., 2009. "Building a targeting system for Bangladesh based on proxy means testing," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 50670, The World Bank.
    6. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    7. Khandker, Shahidur & Pitt, Mark & Fuwa, Nobuhiko, 2003. "Subsidy to Promote Girls' Secondary Education: The Female Stipend Program in Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 23688, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Sarah Baird & Craig McIntosh & Berk Özler, 2011. "Cash or Condition? Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1709-1753.
    9. World Bank, 2013. "Seeding Fertile Ground : Education that Works for Bangladesh," World Bank Publications - Reports 16768, The World Bank Group.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lara Cockx & Nathalie Francken, 2016. "Evolution and Impact of EU Aid for Food and Nutrition Security: A Review," FOODSECURE Working papers 47, LEI Wageningen UR.
    2. Pei‐An Liao & Hung‐Hao Chang & Yi‐Ju Su, 2020. "Cash transfer program and child underweight—Empirical evidence from a causal mediation analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(2), pages 291-303, March.
    3. Vedavati Patwardhan, 2023. "The impact of the Mamata conditional cash transfer program on child nutrition in Odisha, India," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(9), pages 2127-2146, September.
    4. Kronebusch, Natalie & Damon, Amy, 2019. "The impact of conditional cash transfers on nutrition outcomes: Experimental evidence from Mexico," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 169-180.
    5. Yeasmin Sayeed, 2016. "Effect of girls' secondary school stipend on completed schooling, age at marriage, and age at first birth," WIDER Working Paper Series 110, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Sandra García & Juan Saavedra, 2017. "Educational Impacts and Cost-Effectiveness of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Developing Countries: A Meta-Analysis," NBER Working Papers 23594, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Sophie Nadeau & Rifat Hasan, 2015. "Early Childhood Development," World Bank Publications - Reports 23871, The World Bank Group.
    8. Stephen Smith, 2018. "Development Economics Meets the Challenges of Lagging U.S. Areas: Applications to Education, Health and Nutrition, Behavior, and Infrastructure," Working Papers 2018-7, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    9. World Bank, 2016. "Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review," World Bank Publications - Reports 25265, The World Bank Group.
    10. Yeasmin Sayeed, 2016. "Effect of girls' secondary school stipend on completed schooling, age at marriage, and age at first birth: Evidence from Bangladesh," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-110, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Jose Cuesta & Mario Negre & Ana Revenga & Maika Schmidt, 2018. "Tackling Income Inequality: What Works and Why?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(1), pages 1-48, March.
    12. Tagel Gebrehiwot & Carolina Castilla, 2018. "Do safety net transfers improve household diets and reduce undernutrition? Evidence from rural Ethiopia," Working Papers PMMA 2018-03, PEP-PMMA.
    13. Sophie Nadeau & Rifat Hasan, 2016. "Early Childhood Development," World Bank Publications - Reports 24575, The World Bank Group.

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    Keywords

    Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Housing&Human Habitats; Rural Poverty Reduction; Primary Education;
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