5 research outputs found
Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs and Spillover Effects on the Local Economy: Evidence from Mali
Full text linkExtreme poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa is challenged by the region’s high population growth, climate change, and armed conflicts. These recent years, social safety net programs have been considered as development policy tools to address poverty and improve households' welfare. However, despite the growing interest in social safety net policies, impact studies do not look at all aspects of the contribution of cash transfer programs. This study attempts to fill in the gap by providing more comprehensive insights into the role of unconditional cash programs in the West African context. Many methodological approaches were applied. The first essay which investigates the causal relationship between the Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) program and school-aged children’s time allocation showed that the program increases girls' school enrolment at primary school by 4.3 percentage points. The second essay concludes that conflict has a negative and statistically significant effect on the probability of use and expenditures on fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery. However, the cash program has no significant impact in mitigating the negative effects of conflict. The third essay analyses whether the Income Generating Activities (IGAs) as UCT exit strategy contribute to keeping households out of poverty after leaving the program. Findings mainly indicate that animal fattening and rearing as IGAs are more likely to increase the household consumption per capita than those who choose no IGA. The two last essays show that the program has a multiplier effect on the local economy, and generates a positive welfare effect for non-beneficiary households. As a policy implication, social safety nets should be scaled up and supported as part of governments' development agenda and strategies
Educational impacts of an unconditional cash transfer program in Mali
No full textIn rural West Africa, the rate of out-of-school children is high and delayed entry to primary school is common, particularly for girls. Using the randomized roll-out of a large-scale unconditional cash transfer program in Mali, we examine its impact on child schooling by age and sex. The program leads to significant improvements in schooling outcomes for girls, but not boys. Improvements are especially salient among younger (ages 6–9) and older (ages 15–18) girls. Complementary analysis reveals that the program reduces the time younger girls spend in agricultural work at home and the time older girls spend in domestic work as well as self-employment. Households in the program also spend more on education for older girls in terms of school fees, materials, and transport
Educational impacts of an unconditional cash transfer program in Mali
No full textPoverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH
The cost and cost-effectiveness of an integrated wasting prevention and screening intervention package in Burkina Faso and Mali
No full textBackground
Little is known about costs and cost-effectiveness of interventions that integrate wasting prevention into screening for child wasting.
Objective
This study’s objective was to estimate the cost and cost-effectiveness of an intervention that integrated behavior change communication (BCC) and small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) into platforms for wasting screening in Burkina Faso (a facility-based platform, where BCC was enhanced compared to standard care) and Mali (a community-based platform, with standard BCC).
Methods
Activity-based costing was used to estimate the cost per child-contact for the intervention and the comparison group, which did not receive the intervention. Costs were ascertained from accounting records, interviews, surveys, and observations. The number of child-contacts were calculated using population size estimates and average attendance rates for each service. Costs per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted were estimated using a Markov model populated with data from the parent trials on impact on wasting incidence and treatment coverage.
Results
In the intervention group in Burkina Faso, the cost per child-contact of facility-based screening was 4.28, and of SQ-LNS was 0.57, of standard BCC was 4.14. Although no SQ-LNS costs were incurred in the comparison groups (hence lower total costs), costs per child-contact for screening and BCC were higher because coverage of these services was lower. The intervention package cost 747 in Mali.
Conclusions
Integration of wasting prevention into screening for child wasting led to higher total costs but lower unit costs than standard screening due to increased coverage. Greater cost-effectiveness could be achieved if BCC were strengthened and led to improved caregiver health and nutrition practices and if screening triggered appropriate use of services and higher treatment coverage
The cost and cost-effectiveness of integrating wasting prevention into screening in facility- and community-based platforms in Burkina Faso and Mali
No full textObjectives: The release of the new WHO guideline on the prevention and treatment of child wasting identified a dearth of rigorous evidence on the cost-effectiveness of wasting-related interventions, and especially so for interventions that integrate prevention into screening. We estimated the cost and cost-effectiveness of integrating prevention interventions - behavior change communication (BCC) and small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) - into a facility-based platform in Burkina Faso with enhanced BCC and a community-based platform in Mali with standard BCC
