Unconditional Cash Transfers Impact on Child Nutrition: South Africa – Gender

WUNRN

 

We
announce the launch of the IPC Working Paper #39, “The Impact
of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Nutrition: The South African Child Support Grant”.
The authors, Jorge Agüero, Michael Carter and Ingrid
Woolard, note that, unlike some of the most well known Latin American cash
transfer programmes, South Africa’s is unconditional, targeting grants to children’s
caregivers (usually women) without any obligations for behavioural change of
beneficiaries.

 

They show that despite the absence of conditions, the
programme has been noticeably successful in bolstering early childhood
nutrition, as measured by height-for-age statistics.

 

Moreover, in contrast to findings common in the
literature on a weak relationship between income and nutrition, they find that
nutrition is remarkably responsive to the receipt of such grant income (perhaps
because it is directed to women).

 

They also show that the projected future adult
earnings of these children significantly exceeds the current costs of the Child
Support Grant.

 

This Working Paper is part of the IPC Research
Programme on “Cash
Transfers and Social Protection”.

 

Other IPC publications at: https://www.undp-povertycentre.org/ipcpublications.htm

 

International
Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)

================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com.
Thank you.