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Assets for Alimentation? The Nutritional Impact of Assets-based Programming in Niger

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  • Tilman Brück
  • Oscar Mauricio Díaz Botía
  • Neil T. N. Ferguson
  • Jérôme Ouédraogo
  • Zacharias Ziegelhöfer

Abstract

A recent strand of aid programming aims to develop household assets by removing the stresses associated with meeting basic nutritional needs. In this study, the authors posit that such nutrition-sensitive programmes can reduce malnourishment by encouraging further investment in diet. To test this hypothesis, they analyse the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO), in Niger, a conflict-affected, low-income country with entrenched food insecurity. Under the PRRO, a household falls into one of three groups at end line: receiving no assistance, receiving nutrition-specific assistance, or receiving nutrition-specific assistance and nutrition-sensitive food for assets-based programming. If provided alone, food aid has no nutritional impact relative to receiving no assistance. However, the study observes pronounced positive effects if food aid is paired with assets-based programming. The authors conclude, first, that certain forms of food aid function well in complex, insecure environments; second, that assets-based programmes deliver positive nutritional spillovers; and, third, that there are theoretical grounds to believe that assets-based nutrition-sensitive programmes interact positively with nutrition-specific programming.

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  • Tilman Brück & Oscar Mauricio Díaz Botía & Neil T. N. Ferguson & Jérôme Ouédraogo & Zacharias Ziegelhöfer, 2019. "Assets for Alimentation? The Nutritional Impact of Assets-based Programming in Niger," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(S1), pages 55-74, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:55:y:2019:i:s1:p:55-74
    DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2019.1687876
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    2. Brück, Tilman & d'Errico, Marco, 2019. "Food security and violent conflict: Introduction to the special issue," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 167-171.
    3. Huw Lloyd-Ellis & Ardyn Nordstrom, 2021. "Trade, poverty and food security: A survey of recent research and its implications for East Africa," Working Paper 1460, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    4. Elisabetta Aurino & Sara Giunti, 2022. "Social Protection for Child Development in Crisis: A Review of Evidence and Knowledge Gaps [School Feeding Reduces Anemia Prevalence in Adolescent Girls and Other Vulnerable Household Members in a ," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 37(2), pages 229-263.
    5. Dorothee Weiffen & Ghassan Baliki & Tilman Brück, 2022. "Violent conflict moderates food security impacts of agricultural asset transfers in Syria: A heterogeneity analysis using machine learning," HiCN Working Papers 381, Households in Conflict Network.

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