Ferre, CelineSharif, Iffath2014-11-122014-11-122014-10https://hdl.handle.net/10986/20511There is an increasing recognition that investment in human development at an earlier age can have a significant impact on the lifetime earnings capacity of an individual. This notion is the basis for the popularity of conditional cash transfer programs to help boost child health and education outcomes. The evidence on the impact of conditional cash transfers on health and education outcomes, however, is mixed. This paper uses panel data from a pilot project and evaluates the impact of conditional cash transfers on consumption, education, and nutrition outcomes among poor rural families in Bangladesh. Given implementation challenges the intervention was not able to improve school attendance. However the analysis shows that the pilot had a significant impact on the incidence of wasting among children who were 10-22 months old when the program started, reducing the share of children with weight-for-height below two standard deviations from the World Health Organization benchmark by 40 percent. The pilot was also able to improve nutrition knowledge: there was a significant increase in the proportion of beneficiary mothers who knew about the importance of exclusively breastfeeding infants until the age of six months. The results also suggest a significant positive impact on food consumption, especially consumption of food with high protein content.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO ELECTRICITYACCESS TO FACILITIESACUTE MALNUTRITIONAGEDAGRICULTURAL LABORERBENEFICIARY FAMILIESBENEFICIARY HOUSEHOLDSBIRTH CERTIFICATEBIRTH REGISTRATIONBREASTFEEDINGCALORIC INTAKECAREGIVERSCASH TRANSFER PROGRAMSCASH TRANSFERSCHILD DEVELOPMENTCHILD NUTRITIONCHRONIC ILLNESSCHRONIC MALNUTRITIONCOMMUNITIESCOMPLETION RATESCONSUMPTION DATACOUNTERFACTUALDIETARY DIVERSITYDISTRICTSDROPOUT RATESEDUCATION SECTOREDUCATION SERVICESEDUCATIONAL OUTCOMESEMPLOYMENT GENERATIONENROLLMENTENROLLMENT RATESEVICTIONEXTREME POVERTYEXTREMELY POOR HOUSEHOLDSFAMILIESFAMILY MEMBERSFAMILY PLANNINGFEMALEFOOD CONSUMPTIONFOOD INTAKEFOOD POVERTYFOOD POVERTY LINEGENDERGIRLSGOVERNMENT PRIMARY SCHOOLSHEALTH SERVICESHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICSHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD HEAD AGEHOUSEHOLD HEADSHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD WELFAREHOUSEHOLDSHOUSEHOLDS WITH CHILDRENHOUSESHOUSINGHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN CAPITAL FORMATIONHUMAN DEVELOPMENTIMMUNIZATIONINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINFANT HEALTHINTERVENTIONINTERVENTIONSLABOR MARKETLOCALITIESMEANS TESTINGMEATMIGRATIONMILKNEIGHBORHOODNUTRITIONNUTRITION INTERVENTIONSNUTRITION OUTCOMESNUTRITIONAL STATUSOUT OF SCHOOL CHILDRENOUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDRENPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPOORPOOR CHILDRENPOOR HOUSEHOLDPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOVERTY ALLEVIATIONPOVERTY ASSESSMENTPOVERTY INDICATORSPOVERTY LEVELSPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPREGNANCYPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRIMARY EDUCATION OUTCOMESPRIMARY EDUCATION STIPENDPRIMARY ENROLLMENTPRIMARY SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOL AGEPRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENTPRIMARY SCHOOLSPROTEIN CONTENTREGULAR SCHOOL ATTENDANCERURALRURAL AREASRURAL FAMILIESRURAL HOUSEHOLDSSAFETYSAFETY NETSAFETY NET PROGRAMSSAFETY NETSSCHOOL ATTENDANCESCHOOL SYSTEMSCHOOLINGSLUMSLUMSSOCIAL PROTECTIONTARGETINGTRAINING PROGRAMMEURBAN AREASVEGETABLESVILLAGE LEVELVILLAGES10.1596/1813-9450-7077