Food transfers, cash transfers, behavior change communication and child nutrition: Evidence from Bangladesh
Title | Food transfers, cash transfers, behavior change communication and child nutrition: Evidence from Bangladesh PDF eBook |
Author | Akhter Ahmed |
Publisher | Intl Food Policy Res Inst |
Pages | 40 |
Release | 2019-09-26 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN |
The importance of children’s nutritional status for subsequent human capital formation, the limited evidence of the effectiveness of social protection interventions on child nutrition, and the absence of knowledge on the intra-household impacts of cash and food transfers or how they are shaped by complementary programming motivate this paper. We implemented two, linked randomized control trials in rural Bangladesh, with treatment arms including cash transfers, a food ration, or a mixed food and cash transfer, as well as treatments where cash and nutrition behavior change communication (BCC) or where food and nutrition BCC were provided. Only cash plus nutrition BCC had a significant impact on nutritional status, but its effect on height-forage z scores (HAZ) was large, 0.25SD. We explore the mechanisms underlying this impact. Improved diets – including increased intake of animal source foods – along with reductions in illness in the cash plus BCC treatment arm are consistent with the improvement we observe in children’s HAZ.
Transfers, Behavior Change Communication, and Intimate Partner Violence
Title | Transfers, Behavior Change Communication, and Intimate Partner Violence PDF eBook |
Author | Roy, Shalini |
Publisher | Intl Food Policy Res Inst |
Pages | 60 |
Release | 2017-09-09 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN |
Transfer programs have been shown to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV), but little evidence exists on how activities linked to transfers affect IPV or what happens when programs end. We assess postprogram impacts on IPV of randomly assigning women in Bangladesh to receive cash or food, with or without nutrition behavior change communication (BCC). Six to 10 months postprogram, IPV did not differ between women receiving transfers and a control group; however, women receiving transfers with BCC experienced 26 percent less physical violence. Evidence on mechanisms suggests sustained effects of BCC on women’s threat points, men’s social costs of violence, and household well-being.
Global food policy report 2024: Food systems for healthy diets and nutrition
Title | Global food policy report 2024: Food systems for healthy diets and nutrition PDF eBook |
Author | International Food Policy Research Institute |
Publisher | Intl Food Policy Res Inst |
Pages | 148 |
Release | 2024-05-29 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN |
Food systems and diets underpin many critical challenges to public health and environmental sustainability, including malnutrition, noncommunicable diseases, and climate change, but sustainable healthy diets have the unique potential to reshape the future for both human and planetary well-being. The 2024 Global Food Policy Report draws on recent evidence to examine the role of food systems in driving nutrition outcomes and opportunities for transforming food systems to ensure healthy diets for all. Chapters by IFPRI researchers and partners evaluate proven and innovative ways to sustainably improve diet quality and reduce malnutrition, including ways to make healthy diets more affordable, accessible, and desirable, how to improve food environments, the role of both agricultural crops and animal-source foods, and governance for better diets and nutrition, all with a major focus on the most vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries. Regional sections explore the diverse challenges countries face and promising policy responses for transforming food systems for sustainable healthy diets.
Annual report 2020: CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)
Title | Annual report 2020: CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) PDF eBook |
Author | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) |
Publisher | Intl Food Policy Res Inst |
Pages | 87 |
Release | 2021-09-09 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN |
In 2020, PIM findings contributed to seed policies in Nepal and Uganda, Malawi’s extension strategy and approval of insect-resistant cotton, a nationwide program aimed at improving the effectiveness of public service delivery in Uganda, social protection programs in Egypt, and school gardens for better nutrition in Papua New Guinea. At the global level, PIM research was used to shape strategic decisions of organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GIZ, the Inter-American Development Bank, the UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the World Bank and the World Health Organization. PIM tools were incorporated in universities’ curricula in India and South Africa. Examples of PIM innovations scaled up by partners in 2020 are private sector seed marketing in Ethiopia, picture-based insurance in Ethiopia, India and Kenya, and tools for inclusive governance of natural resources in India and Peru.
Securing food for all in Bangladesh
Title | Securing food for all in Bangladesh PDF eBook |
Author | Ahmed, Akhter, ed. |
Publisher | Intl Food Policy Res Inst |
Pages | 624 |
Release | 2021-11-05 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 9845063713 |
Securing Food for All in Bangladesh presents an array of research that collectively address four broad issues: (1) agricultural technology adoption; (2) input use and agricultural productivity; (3) food security and output market; and (4) poverty, food security, and women’s empowerment. The fifteen chapters of the book address diverse aspects within these four themes. Access to sufficient food by all people at all times to meet their dietary needs is a matter of critical importance. Despite declining arable agricultural land, Bangladesh has made commendable progress in boosting domestic food production. The growth in overall food production has been keeping ahead of population growth, resulting in higher per capita availability of food over time. In the early 1970s, Bangladesh was a food-deficit country with a population of about 75 million. Today, the population is 165 million, and the country is now self-sufficient in rice production, which has tripled over the past three decades. Along with enhanced food production, increased income has improved people’s access to food. Furthermore, nutritional outcomes have improved significantly. Nevertheless, the challenges to food and nutrition security remain formidable. Future agricultural growth and food and nutrition security are threatened by population growth, worsening soil fertility, diminishing access to land and other scarce natural resources, increasing vulnerability of crop varieties to pests and diseases, and persistent poverty leading to poor access to food. In addition, the impacts of climate change—an increase in the incidence of natural disasters, sea intrusion, and salinity—will exacerbate food and nutrition insecurity in the coming decades if corrective measures are not taken. Aligned with this context, the authors of the book explore policy options and strategies for developing agriculture and improving food security in Bangladesh. Securing Food for All in Bangladesh, with its breadth and scope, will be an invaluable resource for policymakers, researchers, and students dedicated to improving people’s livelihoods in Bangladesh.
Understanding intra-household food allocation rules: Evidence from a randomized social safety net intervention in Bangladesh
Title | Understanding intra-household food allocation rules: Evidence from a randomized social safety net intervention in Bangladesh PDF eBook |
Author | Coleman, Fiona M. |
Publisher | Intl Food Policy Res Inst |
Pages | 100 |
Release | 2024-01-03 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN |
Evidence shows social protection can improve diets, but little is understood about how effects vary within a household or what factors determine how food is allocated across different household members. We use individual food intake data from two randomized control trials to estimate intrahousehold dietary impacts of cash or food transfers, with or without nutrition behavior change communication (BCC), in two regions of Bangladesh. We assess whether intrahousehold impacts 1) are consistent with different allocation "rules" hypothesized in the literature, 2) differ by transfer modality, provision of BCC, or regional context. Results indicate that households distribute food equally among their members (men, women, boys, and girls), both in absolute terms and in proportion to individual-specific requirements and deficits. Patterns are similar across regions and do not depend on transfer modality or whether BCC is provided. Findings have implications for designing nutrition-sensitive social protection with different target groups prioritized.
Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi
Title | Targeting hunger or votes? The political economy of humanitarian transfers in Malawi PDF eBook |
Author | Duchoslav, Jan |
Publisher | Intl Food Policy Res Inst |
Pages | 26 |
Release | 2022-10-07 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN |
Do electoral considerations play a role in the targeting of humanitarian transfers? We analyze the targeting of direct cash and food transfers distributed in Malawi in response to an exceptionally poor harvest following a late and erratic rainy season of 2015-16. Combining household survey data on transfers with a remotely sensed measure of drought and with the results of the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections, we show that transfers were disproportionately targeted at marginal constituencies. Rather than distributing the transfers based solely on need or mobilizing its tribal base, the government attempted to persuade swing voters to support its candidates in the next elections. We nd no evidence that this strategy was successful at increasing the vote of ruling party candidates in subsequent elections.