Sustainability of Impacts of Cash Transfers, Food Transfers, and Behavior Change Communication in Bangladesh
Condition: Food Security; Poverty; Child Nutrition; Child Development; Intimate Partner Violence; Gender Dynamics
Study type: Interventional

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.
    

Detailed description: 
      The objective of the study is to assess, 4 years after a pilot safety net intervention ended
      in April 2014, the sustainability of the intervention's impacts on households, children, and
      women. 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). WFP-Bangladesh implemented the intervention, and the International Food
      Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) conducted the impact evaluation research. 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]; (5)
      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, from May 2012-April 2014. For the original impact evaluation, longitudinal data on
      5000 households were collected from 2012-2015 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02237144).

      For the sustainability study in 2018, given available funding, the sampling frame will
      include 4000 households. This will include all households that were originally in the
      following arms: (1) cash transfers [north and south]; (2) cash transfers + nutrition BCC
      [north only]; (3) food transfers [north and south]; (4) food transfers + nutrition BCC [south
      only]; (5) control [north and south].
    

Intervention name(s): Cash transfer; Food transfer; Food and cash transfer; Nutrition behavior Communication Change (BCC); Control
Intervention type(s): Other; Other; Other; Behavioral; Other
Intervention description(s): 1500 taka ($18.75) per household distributed monthly; 30 kg rice, 2 kg lentils, and 2 kg micro-nutrient fortified cooking oil per household distributed monthly; 15 kg of rice, 1 kg of lentils, and 1 kg of micronutrient-fortified cooking oil, and 750 taka cash per household, distributed monthly; 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; No transfer, no behavior change communication
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Cash transfers; Food transfers; Behavior change communication; Sustainability; Social protection; Nutrition; Gender