Safety nets can be very effective at improving food security and reducing poverty, but have had limited or mixed effects on improving nutrition. This begs the question: is there something other than resources that's needed to improve child nutrition, particularly to accelerate reductions in child stunting?
IFPRI designed and WFP implemented the Transfer Modality Research Initiative (TMRI) in Bangladesh from 2012-14, which compared the effectiveness of food and cash transfers to poor rural households on various outcomes, and the impact of topping up transfers with high quality behavior change communication (BCC). TMRI results showed that cash transfers + high quality nutrition BCC was the most effective, reducing child stunting 3x the national average decline.
These are remarkable results, but given that safety nets don't continue indefinitely, what happens after the transfers end? Under the TMRI 4-Year Sustainability of Impacts study, IFPRI researchers returned to the sub-sample of the TMRI beneficiary households to collect information on sustainability of the following:
- Households (e.g., food security, dietary diversity, savings, income, etc.);
- Women (e.g., experience with intimate partner violence, role in intrahousehold decisionmaking, mobility, and gender norms); and
- Children (e.g., nutritional status, cognitive and socioemotional development, school performance, and gender norms).
TMRI emerged as a proof-of-concept for how to leverage social transfers effectively to improve child nutrition and reduce poverty. Now, this sustainability study has significant potential to reinforce the long-term gains and return on investment for implementing high quality nutrition-sensitive social protection programs like TMRI. Results are anticipated in 2019.
This study is funded by Wellspring Advisors, LLC.
For more information on this study, please contact co-leads Akhter Ahmed, Melissa Hidrobo, and Shalini Roy.