Evidence and work in Asia Bangkok, 2 nd Oct 2018 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Bangkok, 2nd Oct 2018 James.kingori@wfp.org

Evidence and work in Asia

Cash for Nutrition Outcomes

• Since the Grand Bargain agreement, 2016 World

Humanitarian Summit, cash transfers is part of humanitarian assistance.

• Cash transfers (CT) are efficient and effective in

covering basic needs. Cash transfers offer dignity, choice and flexibility to affected populations’ food and nutrition security

• Need for evidence on impact to support their

programmes and policies.

Cash: A tool for emergency & devt

Cash can improve nutrition.

What Do We Know About Cash for Nutrition Outcomes?

Impact is affected by context and design.

Evidence of nutrition outcomes Areas of Inquiry Consistent evidence

• f +ve impact

HH food consumption & Dietary diversity HH expenditure/ food expenditure Growing evidence

• f +ve impact

HH economy; Use of preventive health services; Child wasting & stunting; Limited but consistent evidence

• f +ve impact

HH caloric intake; WASH, mother/ caregiver dietary intake; Access to micronutrients; Child underweight No evidence/ inconsistent evidence of impact HH coping strategies; care practices; Caregivers physical health or empowerment

Evidence of cash transfer on nutrition

• utcome & determinant (pointers)

Designing Interventions to Maximize Nutrition Outcomes

Improved diets of target groups

• ver a longer

period of time

Context analysis & formative research Nutritious foods are available, affordable & accessible Transfer value supports nutrition year-round Sufficient duration, appropriate targeting & timing Communications to improve health & nutrition behavior

Evidence

• f nutrition

Area of inquiry Growing consistent evidence Conditionality: No difference => Unconditional & conditional CT Modality: Cash & voucher are better than food transfer at increasing dietary diversity Amount of CT: Amount need to contribute to HH economy Limited but consistent evidence Complementarity: Cash plus other response Cash delivery mechanism (cash vs mobile): no effect on WHZ; electronic transfer preferred Targeting: Consider sex & age of child & caregiver Duration: Longer the duration improved nutrition Unintended effects: Indicator heterogeneity; e.g. HH dynamics Cost efficiency: CT/Voucher likely to be better In-kind food distribution No evidence Recipient gender; timing of delivery; frequency; communication & labelling; preferences & behaviour response, etc

Evidence of cash transfer (CT)on program design & implementation features

WFP Research and Programming to Build Evidence

Bangladesh Niger Pakistan Dominican Republic Ethiopia Republic of Congo

• Stakeholders: Agha Khan Univ; Benazir Income

support Program, MOH, WFP

• Objective: Effectiveness of nutrition interventions

involving nutritious foods, cash-based transfer, and enhanced SBCC to prevent stunting among 6-24 month children in Rahim Yar Khan district

• Formative research to develop the SBCC approach
• Five arm randomized trial: (1) Control group (2)

Unconditional Cash-only group; (3) Cash + SBCC group; (4) Cash + SNF group (5) Cash + SNF + SBCC group

• Status: 1st Consultation in Nov 2016; 1st enrolment
• f study groups in April 2017

Stunting prevention Operational Research at Rahim Yar Khan; Punjab

• Objective: Evidence generation for stunting

prevention through multisectoral approaches coupled with appropriate complementary practices.

• Longitudinal study investigating control and study

group of children within their 1000 days. SNFs, MNPs, BISP CBTs, health services, and education services provided by Lady Health workers; Data collection done by an independent study team.

• Baseline established for various indicators.

Evidence generation on stunting reduction in Balochistan

World Food Programme World Food Programme Oct 2nd 2018

Thank you! Questions?