Can Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Education and Nutrition Outcomes for Poor Children in Bangladesh? Evidence from a Pilot Project

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.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Ferre, Celine, Sharif, Iffath
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014-10
Subjects:	ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY, ACCESS TO FACILITIES, ACUTE MALNUTRITION, AGED, AGRICULTURAL LABORER, BENEFICIARY FAMILIES, BENEFICIARY HOUSEHOLDS, BIRTH CERTIFICATE, BIRTH REGISTRATION, BREASTFEEDING, CALORIC INTAKE, CAREGIVERS, CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMS, CASH TRANSFERS, CHILD DEVELOPMENT, CHILD NUTRITION, CHRONIC ILLNESS, CHRONIC MALNUTRITION, COMMUNITIES, COMPLETION RATES, CONSUMPTION DATA, COUNTERFACTUAL, DIETARY DIVERSITY, DISTRICTS, DROPOUT RATES, EDUCATION SECTOR, EDUCATION SERVICES, EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES, EMPLOYMENT GENERATION, ENROLLMENT, ENROLLMENT RATES, EVICTION, EXTREME POVERTY, EXTREMELY POOR HOUSEHOLDS, FAMILIES, FAMILY MEMBERS, FAMILY PLANNING, FEMALE, FOOD CONSUMPTION, FOOD INTAKE, FOOD POVERTY, FOOD POVERTY LINE, GENDER, GIRLS, GOVERNMENT PRIMARY SCHOOLS, HEALTH SERVICES, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS, HOUSEHOLD HEAD, HOUSEHOLD HEAD AGE, HOUSEHOLD HEADS, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLD SIZE, HOUSEHOLD WELFARE, HOUSEHOLDS, HOUSEHOLDS WITH CHILDREN, HOUSES, HOUSING, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN CAPITAL FORMATION, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, IMMUNIZATION, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INFANT HEALTH, INTERVENTION, INTERVENTIONS, LABOR MARKET, LOCALITIES, MEANS TESTING, MEAT, MIGRATION, MILK, NEIGHBORHOOD, NUTRITION, NUTRITION INTERVENTIONS, NUTRITION OUTCOMES, NUTRITIONAL STATUS, OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN, OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN, PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION, POOR, POOR CHILDREN, POOR HOUSEHOLD, POOR HOUSEHOLDS, POVERTY ALLEVIATION, POVERTY ASSESSMENT, POVERTY INDICATORS, POVERTY LEVELS, POVERTY LINE, POVERTY LINES, POVERTY RATE, POVERTY RATES, POVERTY REDUCTION, PREGNANCY, PRIMARY EDUCATION, PRIMARY EDUCATION OUTCOMES, PRIMARY EDUCATION STIPEND, PRIMARY ENROLLMENT, PRIMARY SCHOOL, PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE, PRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, PRIMARY SCHOOLS, PROTEIN CONTENT, REGULAR SCHOOL ATTENDANCE, RURAL, RURAL AREAS, RURAL FAMILIES, RURAL HOUSEHOLDS, SAFETY, SAFETY NET, SAFETY NET PROGRAMS, SAFETY NETS, SCHOOL ATTENDANCE, SCHOOL SYSTEM, SCHOOLING, SLUM, SLUMS, SOCIAL PROTECTION, TARGETING, TRAINING PROGRAMME, URBAN AREAS, VEGETABLES, VILLAGE LEVEL, VILLAGES,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/10/20334344/can-conditional-cash-transfers-improve-education-nutrition-outcomes-poor-children-bangladesh-evidence-pilot-project https://hdl.handle.net/10986/20511
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