Conditional Cash Transfer Facilitated to Improved Nutrition Outcomes for the Poor Children: A Piloting Experience in Bangladesh

Conditional Cash Transfer  project provided assistance to 15,000 poor households in Bangladesh to improve the knowledge and practice of mothers about breastfeeding, growth monitoring  and improved diet for the  children. The project was implemented by the Local Government Division with support from The World Bank and technical assistance from Bangladesh Post Office, DATA International and Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs. 

Objectives:

The piloting aimed at testing the ways to promote child nutrition in accordance with WHO’s “age specific goal of weights and heights” and increase nutrition related knowledge and practice among mothers and caregivers.

Methods:

To qualify for the cash through Postal Cash Card, the enrolled beneficiary mothers were required to attend monthly growth monitoring and counseling sessions  on child feeding of below 3 years of age so that they are better able to link nutrition with child growth.

 Results:

The evaluation shows a positive impact on food consumption with high protein content and a significant improvement in mother’s knowledge on food diversification among the youngest cohort of children aged 1 year. Wasting (height and weight) was reduced by 12.5 percentage points, which is a reduction of about 40 percent of wasted children in this age group. An increased 6.3 percent of mothers learned about exclusive breast feeding practice.   

Recommendation and Conclusion: 

Conditional Cash Transfer could increase the knowledge and practice for better child nutrition. The Government of Bangladesh now replicates the project in 28 sub-districts targeting 500,000 beneficiaries for 5 years.