The Impact of a Community Development and Poverty Reduction Program on Early Childhood Development in Morocco

Participatory community development programs are designed to match government investments with local needs. In Morocco, where issues of inequality and poverty are high on the national agenda, a community development program, the National Initiative for Human Development, targeted high-poverty areas for additional investments. This paper examines whether, in addition to reducing poverty, such programs can also promote human development, specifically early childhood development. Early childhood development forms a critical foundation for later human development and plays a key role in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status. Using panel data on communities just above and below the cutoff for National Initiative for Human Development inclusion in rural areas, regression discontinuity and fixed effect models are applied to identify the impact of the program on economic outcomes and early childhood development. Although the analysis finds some transitory impacts of the program on economic outcomes, it finds no impacts on early childhood development. Reducing inequality and promoting human development through early childhood development is likely to require specific, targeted, and sustained initiatives.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Krafft, Caroline, El-Kogali, Safaa, Abdelkhalek, Touhami, Benkassmi, Mohamed, Chavez, Monica, Bassett, Lucy, Ejjanoui, Fouzia
Format: Working Paper biblioteca
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2016-05
Subjects:SANITATION, HOUSEHOLD INCOMES, PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE, CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES, IMPACT ON POVERTY, ECONOMIC GROWTH, PEOPLE, POLITICS, INCOME, OLS MODELS, HEALTH EXPENDITURES, POVERTY RATES, PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION, TOTAL POVERTY, COUNTERFACTUAL, PROGRAMS, HOUSING, HEALTH CARE, IMPACTS, HEALTH, PROJECTS, BENEFICIARIES, MEASURES, PROGRAM IMPACTS, INCOME GENERATION, POVERTY REDUCTION, PROGRAM DESIGNS, HEALTH TARGETS, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, PER CAPITA INCOME, INTERVENTION, SHEEP, HEALTH INDICATORS, IMPACT EVALUATION, CHILD DEVELOPMENT, TRANSFERS, OBSERVATION, POOR AREAS, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, LEARNING, INDICATORS, RESEARCH, TOTAL POVERTY RATE, SERVICE DELIVERY, RURAL ROADS, POVERTY MAP, FARM PRODUCTS, NUTRITIONAL STATUS, CONSUMPTION, HUMAN CAPITAL, RURAL COMMUNITIES, WORKERS, PROJECT IMPACTS, CHRONIC MALNUTRITION, AGED, SOCIAL SERVICES, POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAM, CONTROL GROUPS, PARTICIPATION, INCOME-GENERATING ACTIVITIES, CAPACITY-BUILDING, HEALTH OUTCOMES, PARENTING, PARTICIPATION OF BENEFICIARIES, RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE, BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE, POVERTY MAPPING, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EMPLOYMENT STATUS, AGRICULTURAL LAND, DECISION MAKING, MALNUTRITION, RURAL, MEASUREMENT, QUANTITATIVE METHODS, SAMPLE SIZE, NUTRITION, SURVEYS, SOCIAL CAPITAL, WEIGHT, TARGETING, PREGNANT WOMEN, CHILDREN, REGIONS, DRINKING WATER, STATISTICS, IRRIGATION, EVALUATION, POVERTY, RURAL AREAS, SAMPLING, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, LIVING CONDITIONS, RESEARCH PROGRAM, POVERTY RATE, POOR, STRATEGY, CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA, OUTCOMES, IMPLEMENTATION, HEALTH SERVICES, PREGNANCY, SELF-EMPLOYMENT, AGRICULTURAL SELF-EMPLOYMENT, POVERTY ALLEVIATION, INEQUALITY, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, PROGRAM EFFECTS, POOR HOUSEHOLDS,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/05/26371495/impact-community-development-poverty-reduction-program-early-childhood-development-morocco
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/24508
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Summary:Participatory community development programs are designed to match government investments with local needs. In Morocco, where issues of inequality and poverty are high on the national agenda, a community development program, the National Initiative for Human Development, targeted high-poverty areas for additional investments. This paper examines whether, in addition to reducing poverty, such programs can also promote human development, specifically early childhood development. Early childhood development forms a critical foundation for later human development and plays a key role in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status. Using panel data on communities just above and below the cutoff for National Initiative for Human Development inclusion in rural areas, regression discontinuity and fixed effect models are applied to identify the impact of the program on economic outcomes and early childhood development. Although the analysis finds some transitory impacts of the program on economic outcomes, it finds no impacts on early childhood development. Reducing inequality and promoting human development through early childhood development is likely to require specific, targeted, and sustained initiatives.