Assessing indicators for selection of participants for the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) program in Bangladesh

Assessing indicators for selection of participants for the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) program in Bangladesh
Author: Ahmed, Akhter
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 28
Release: 2018-09-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Bangladesh has a wealth of institutional diversity and experience with targeted social safety net programs. Most of these programs are widely credited with providing the poor access to food and improving their livelihoods. However, the need for assistance is overwhelming. According to the latest poverty estimates, 24.3 percent of the country’s 163 million people were poor in 2016.1 Improving program targeting to reach the poorest of the poor effectively is needed to address the wide gap between the resources available for safety net programs and those in need of support. Targeting effectiveness indicates the extent to which program benefits are received by the neediest versus the less needy or non-needy population. A well-targeted food intervention improves the real income and food security of the neediest without providing those benefits to members of the society who do not need them. Targeting of benefits to those most in need is an obvious way of reducing the costs of a program. Upon request of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has undertaken this study to assess the suitability of indicators used for targeting the poor through the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) program in Bangladesh. The VGD program is the largest social safety net program in Bangladesh that exclusively targets women. About 750,000 ultra-poor rural women and their 3.75 million family members receive a monthly ration of 30 kg of rice for 24 months. This support period is referred to as the “VGD cycle.” The program began in 1975 as a relief program for families affected by natural calamities. The current VGD program seeks to integrate food security and nutrition with development and income generation. The program is implemented by the MOWCA with support from the WFP.

Proposed indicators for selecting needy participants for the Vulnerable Women's Benefit (VWB) Program in urban Bangladesh

Proposed indicators for selecting needy participants for the Vulnerable Women's Benefit (VWB) Program in urban Bangladesh
Author: Ahmed, Akhter
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 25
Release: 2023-01-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Bangladesh has extensive experience with targeted social safety net programs. Most of these programs are widely credited with providing the poor access to food and improving their livelihoods. However, the need for assistance is overwhelming. According to the latest poverty estimates, 24.3 percent of the country’s 163 million people were poor in 2016 (BBS 2019). Improving program targeting to reach the poorest of the poor effectively is needed to address the wide gap between the resources available for safety net programs and those in need of support. Targeting effectiveness indicates the extent to which program benefits are received by the neediest versus the less needy or non-needy population. A well-targeted intervention improves the real income, food consumption, and nutrition of the neediest without providing those benefits to members of society who are better off. As such, targeting benefits to those most in need is a cost-effective way of implementing a program. Upon request from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) undertook this study to develop indicators for targeting the urban poor through the Vulnerable Women’s Benefit (VWB) program in Bangladesh.

Assessing indicators for targeting the needy under the Improved Maternity and Lactating Mother Allowance Program in rural and urban Bangladesh

Assessing indicators for targeting the needy under the Improved Maternity and Lactating Mother Allowance Program in rural and urban Bangladesh
Author: Ahmed, Akhter
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2023-01-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Child stunting in Bangladesh declined dramatically over the past two decades, but remains high at approximately 36 percent (NIPORT 2016). Inadequate maternal nutrition during pregnancy remains prevalent in Bangladesh and is associated with children being born small-for-gestational-age, which is responsible for up to 20 percent of stunting in children between the ages of 1 to 5 years old (Nguyen et al. 2017; Christian et al. 2013). Diets of young children in Bangladesh are also grossly inadequate, further contributing to chronic undernutrition. Renewed efforts to reduce the problem of child undernutrition must focus on improving maternal nutrition (during pregnancy) and the nutrition of the child.

Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition

Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition
Author: Mara van den Bold
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventions—specifically home gardening and dairy projects—show mixed impacts on women’s empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on women’s empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.

2020 Global food policy report: Building inclusive food systems

2020 Global food policy report: Building inclusive food systems
Author: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2020-04-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 089629367X

Food systems are at a critical juncture—they are evolving quickly to meet growing and changing demand but are not serving everyone’s needs. Building more inclusive food systems can bring a wide range of economic and development benefits to all people, especially the poor and disadvantaged. IFPRI’s 2020 Global Food Policy Report examines the policies and investments and the growing range of tools and technologies that can promote inclusion. Chapters examine the imperative of inclusion, challenges faced by smallholders, youth, women, and conflict-affected people, and the opportunities offered by expanding agrifood value chains and national food system transformations. Critical questions addressed include: How can inclusive food systems help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and malnutrition? \What can be done to strengthen the midstream of food value chains to improve rural access to jobs, markets, and services? Will Africa’s food systems generate sufficient jobs for the growing youth population? How can women be empowered within food system processes, from household decisions to policymaking? Can refugees and other conflict-affected people be integrated into food systems to help them rebuild their lives? How can national food system transformations contribute to greater dietary diversity, food safety, and food quality for all? Regional sections look at how inclusion can be improved around the world in 2020 and beyond. The report also presents interesting trends revealed by IFPRI’s food policy indicators and datasets.

Marginality

Marginality
Author: Joachim von Braun
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2013-08-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400770618

This book takes a new approach on understanding causes of extreme poverty and promising actions to address it. Its focus is on marginality being a root cause of poverty and deprivation. “Marginality” is the position of people on the edge, preventing their access to resources, freedom of choices, and the development of capabilities. The book is research based with original empirical analyses at local, national, and local scales; book contributors are leaders in their fields and have backgrounds in different disciplines. An important message of the book is that economic and ecological approaches and institutional innovations need to be integrated to overcome marginality. The book will be a valuable source for development scholars and students, actors that design public policies, and for social innovators in the private sector and non-governmental organizations.​

The Politics of What Works

The Politics of What Works
Author: Naomi Hossain
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper explores the political dimensions of the achievements of the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme in Bangladesh, a large-scale programme of resource transfers and development interventions targeted at the poorest women, which has been in place since 1974. It focuses on documenting how political ideologies, interests and alliances at national and local levels have influenced the establishment, evolution and maintenance of the VGD programme. It also attempts to show how research and development ideologies and actors beyond the immediate domestic political scene have shaped the programme's successes. The paper is based on a review of the programme literature, stakeholder interviews, and on other recent empirical research into the politics of poverty in rural Bangladesh. Section 2 summarises how the VGD programme works and evidence of its impact. Section 3 looks at the political context in which the VGD programme emerged and evolved, and Section 4 at the ideological conditions and research and knowledge about poverty that shaped its origins and evolution. Section 5 discusses the roles of the Executive, donors, NGOs and local political leaders, while Section 6 looks more closely at the political dimensions of key features of how the programme works, focusing on corruption, leakage and bias in beneficiary selection. Section 7 concludes with a brief discussion of the extent to which the VGD has helped establish reasonable expectations among the population of official support for the ultra poor, as a form of social or political contract between the state and the poorest people.

A Market Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Agroenterprise Development

A Market Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Agroenterprise Development
Author: Shaun Ferris
Publisher: Catholic Relief Services
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2006-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1614920028

This publication is a product of the experiences and lessons learned while implementing agroenterprise projects in eastern and southern Africa. A Market Facilitator's Guide is based on a resource-to-consumption framework, which is the central theme of the "enabling rural innovation" approach for rural development. This approach seeks to empower farmer groups with the necessary skills to make informed decisions for their economic development, based on an analysis of their surroundings, assets and skills. The methodology also aims for outcomes that are equitable, gender focused and participatory.