Publication: Protecting Human Capital from the Impact of Early Life Shocks : Key Interventions for Lower-Middle-Income Countries
Loading...
Date
2023-07-06
ISSN
Published
2023-07-06
Editor(s)
Abstract
This policy note presents strong evidence of the impacts of early childhood exposure to shocks on later life human capital outcomes in lower-middle-income countries, particularly in the Sahel region. It recommends key, evidence-based social protection interventions to mitigate these impacts and protect human capital as follows : cash transfers to improve child nutritional outcomes, particularly when combined with behavior change communication on water, sanitation and hygiene and hygiene practices; conditional cash transfers to increase educational outcomes, especially when monitored and reinforced; contributory schemes to mitigate the impact of shocks on asset loss and household expenditure, particularly health, livestock, and climate insurance schemes; food distribution interventions to mitigate the impact of shocks on nutritional and educational outcomes, particularly for children under–five, which is a critical period for growth and development; behavioral interventions to positively influence health and educational behavior and spending, especially nutrition education, academic nudges, and maternal psychotherapy interventions; and the success of these interventions requires context- and population-appropriate program design and implementation to maximize their effects on protecting human capital.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Lufumpa, Nakawala; Hilger, Anne; Ng, Odyssia; De la Brière, Bénédicte Leroy. 2023. Protecting Human Capital from the Impact of Early Life Shocks : Key Interventions for Lower-Middle-Income Countries. SASPP Policy Note Series; No.7, March 2023. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/39964 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Preventing Early Childhood Undernutrition in the Sahel Region(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-06)This policy note presents evidence-based guidance for the effective design, implementation, and utilization of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) interventions in the Sahel region. SQ-LNS are food supplements containing essential nutrients and are intended for daily consumption alongside standard age-appropriate diets. SQ-LNS effectively prevent child undernutrition and improve child growth and development. The key recommendations for modifying SQ-LNS interventions in Sahel country contexts to maximize their impact on child health are presented in the report.Publication Opportunities to Accelerate the Reduction of Childhood Undernutrition in the Sahel(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-06)This brief details the findings of research examining context specific determinants of growth faltering and childhood undernutrition in five Sahel countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Senegal. Notably, this research underscores opportunities to strengthen nutrition action in the Sahel and, consequently, build and sustain human capital in the region. The authors detail the determinants that have the largest associations with childhood undernutrition in the Sahel; examine the findings in the context of existing research; and provide recommendations to improve the effectiveness of nutrition action in this region.Publication Determinants of Childhood Undernutrition in the Sahel(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-01-11)This paper examines country and region-specific determinants of childhood undernutrition in the Sahel which, if integrated into nutrition action, could accelerate progress in the region. Additionally, this research includes the analysis of determinants that have not previously been examined comprehensively or included in nutrition action. The authors assessed the most recent nationally representative cross-sectional Demographic and Health Survey data, between 2010 and 2018, from five Sahel countries. Multilevel logistic and linear regression models were used to assess the association between childhood undernutrition and child, parental, and household level factors. Our analytical sample included just under 37,000 children under five years old.Publication Improving School Readiness in the Sahel(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-05-15)The Sahel has some of the lowest levels of human capital worldwide, with children's future productivity and earning potential being on average sixty-five percent below their potential due to poor health and education outcomes. Early childhood, especially the first five years of life, is a critical period for cognitive, social, emotional, and motor development. Adverse events during this period can have long-lasting impacts on human capital formation. According to a growing body of evidence, school readiness - defined as children having the skills and wellbeing to thrive academically - is essential for academic success and is linked to better educational outcomes, employment, and earnings. However, almost ninety percent of the population of 10-year-old children in the Sahel do not have an age-appropriate level of reading comprehension. This document discusses the importance of integrating school readiness measures into social protection programs to improve educational outcomes and strengthen human capital in the Sahel. It outlines the theoretical framework for school readiness, assesses the impact of school readiness interventions, details evidence-based measures, and concludes with safety net program recommendations and implementation guidance specific to the Sahel context.Publication No Small Matter : The Impact of Poverty, Shocks, and Human Capital Investments in Early Childhood Development(World Bank, 2011-02-24)The relative lack of attention to early childhood development in many developing countries remains a puzzle, and an opportunity. There is increasing evidence that investments in the nutritional, cognitive, and socio-emotional development of young children have high payoffs. Researchers and development practitioners are building on this evidence to raise the topic's profile and bring it to the attention of decision makers. This volume is an important contribution to these efforts. It thoroughly and carefully reviews the most recent empirical literature linking early childhood development outcomes, poverty, and shocks. In doing so, it brings an added perspective to the debate and makes the case that investments in the first years of life have the potential to be a critical component of poverty reduction strategies. The volume also goes beyond simply documenting the consequences of insufficient or inadequate focus on early childhood and identifies the range of policy options available to policy makers. The Human Development Perspectives series seeks to present thorough research findings on issues of critical strategic importance for developing countries. At its core is the perspective that investments in human capital are an essential aspect of efforts to promote global development and eradicate poverty. This volume makes it convincingly clear that investing in and protecting the human capital of young children is no small matter.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Targeting in Ultra-Poor Settings(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10-21)The main insights of this note are as follows: first, to significantly reduce poverty higher budgets for safety net interventions are needed, and expanding coverage is far more important than fine-tuning targeting methods. After geographical targeting, most PMT and CBT methods perform close to a random allocation of benefits when trying to identify food insecure households. While PMT consistently outperforms CBT in identifying households with the lowest consumption, differences are small when distances to the poverty line are considered. While non-beneficiaries experience significant indirect economic benefits from the program, there is mixed and limited evidence on social cohesion and fairness perceptions of targeting methods. Finally, costs are relatively minor as a share of total resources transferred. The policy note concludes with policy and research implications for contexts with high poverty rates, low inequality levels, and insufficient budgets.Publication Opportunities to Accelerate the Reduction of Childhood Undernutrition in the Sahel(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-06)This brief details the findings of research examining context specific determinants of growth faltering and childhood undernutrition in five Sahel countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Senegal. Notably, this research underscores opportunities to strengthen nutrition action in the Sahel and, consequently, build and sustain human capital in the region. The authors detail the determinants that have the largest associations with childhood undernutrition in the Sahel; examine the findings in the context of existing research; and provide recommendations to improve the effectiveness of nutrition action in this region.Publication The Government Analytics Handbook(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-28)The Government Analytics Handbook presents frontier evidence and practitioner insights on how to leverage data to strengthen public administration. Covering a range of microdata sources—such as administrative data and public servant surveys—as well as tools and resources for undertaking the analytics, it transforms the ability of governments to take a data-informed approach to diagnose and improve how public organizations work. Readers can order the book as a single volume in print or digital formats, or visit: worldbank.org/governmentanalytics, for modular access and additional hands-on tools. The Handbook is a must-have for practitioners, policy makers, academics, and government agencies. - “Governments have long been assessed using aggregate governance indicators, giving us little insight into their diversity and how they can practically be improved. This pioneering handbook shows how microdata can be used to give scholars and practitioners granular and real insights into how states work, and practical guidance on the process of state-building.” —Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University, author of State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century - "The Government Analytics Handbook is the most comprehensive work on practically building government administration I have ever seen, helping practitioners to change public administration for the better.” —Francisco Gaetani, Special Secretary for State Transformation, Government of Brazil - “The machinery of the state is central to a country’s prosperity. This handbook provides insights and methodological tools for creating a better shared understanding of the realities of a state, to support the redesign of institutions, and improve the quality of public administration.” —James Robinson, University of Chicago, coauthor of Why Nations FailPublication World Development Report 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-08-01)Middle-income countries are in a race against time. Many of them have done well since the 1990s to escape low-income levels and eradicate extreme poverty, leading to the perception that the last three decades have been great for development. But the ambition of the more than 100 economies with incomes per capita between US$1,100 and US$14,000 is to reach high-income status within the next generation. When assessed against this goal, their record is discouraging. Since the 1970s, income per capita in the median middle-income country has stagnated at less than a tenth of the US level. With aging populations, growing protectionism, and escalating pressures to speed up the energy transition, today’s middle-income economies face ever more daunting odds. To become advanced economies despite the growing headwinds, they will have to make miracles. Drawing on the development experience and advances in economic analysis since the 1950s, World Development Report 2024 identifies pathways for developing economies to avoid the “middle-income trap.” It points to the need for not one but two transitions for those at the middle-income level: the first from investment to infusion and the second from infusion to innovation. Governments in lower-middle-income countries must drop the habit of repeating the same investment-driven strategies and work instead to infuse modern technologies and successful business processes from around the world into their economies. This requires reshaping large swaths of those economies into globally competitive suppliers of goods and services. Upper-middle-income countries that have mastered infusion can accelerate the shift to innovation—not just borrowing ideas from the global frontiers of technology but also beginning to push the frontiers outward. This requires restructuring enterprise, work, and energy use once again, with an even greater emphasis on economic freedom, social mobility, and political contestability. Neither transition is automatic. The handful of economies that made speedy transitions from middle- to high-income status have encouraged enterprise by disciplining powerful incumbents, developed talent by rewarding merit, and capitalized on crises to alter policies and institutions that no longer suit the purposes they were once designed to serve. Today’s middle-income countries will have to do the same.Publication Anticipating Large and Widespread Seasonal Deprivation in the Sahel(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2021-11)In addition to being regularly confronted with unpredictable shocks such as floods, droughts, or conflicts, Sahelian households have to deal with the effects of seasonality. This leads to a significant reduction in food and non-food consumption across the season, exposing the poor to transient food insecurity and malnutrition.