Sustainability of Impacts of Cash Transfers, Food Transfers, and Behavior Change Communication in Bangladesh

Summary

This study assesses the sustainability of impacts, 4 years post-program, from a pilot safety net program that was implemented from May 2012-April 2014. The intervention, called the Transfer Modality Research Initiative (TMRI), was assigned following a cluster-randomized controlled trial design in two zones of Bangladesh (north and south). Intervention arms were assigned at the village level, where arms were as follows: (1) cash transfers \[north and south\]; (2) cash transfers + nutrition behavior communication change (BCC) \[north only\]; (3) food transfers \[north and south\]; (4) food transfers + nutrition BCC \[south only\]; (4) food-cash split \[north and south\]; and (5) control \[north and south\]. Within treatment villages, women living in very poor households were targeted to receive benefits for two years.

Conditions

• Food Security
• Poverty
• Child Nutrition
• Child Development
• Intimate Partner Violence
• Gender Dynamics

Interventions

OTHER

Cash transfer

1500 taka ($18.75) per household distributed monthly

OTHER

Food transfer

30 kg rice, 2 kg lentils, and 2 kg micro-nutrient fortified cooking oil per household distributed monthly

OTHER

Food and cash transfer

15 kg of rice, 1 kg of lentils, and 1 kg of micronutrient-fortified cooking oil, and 750 taka cash per household, distributed monthly

BEHAVIORAL

Nutrition behavior Communication Change (BCC)

Weekly, group-based, one-hour meetings on maternal and child nutrition, sanitation and health knowledge, attitudes and practice; twice-a-month home visits; monthly community meetings

OTHER

Control

No transfer, no behavior change communication

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Cornell University

  collaborator OTHER

• Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Ltd

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• World Food Programme, Bangladesh

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• International Food Policy Research Institute

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Akhter Ahmed, PhD · International Food Policy Research Institute

• Shalini Roy, PhD · International Food Policy Research Institute

• John Hoddinott, DPhil · Cornell University

• Melissa Hidrobo, PhD · International Food Policy Research Institute

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-04-15

Primary Completion

2018-05-15

Completion

2018-05-15