This paper evaluates the effects of interventions based on behavioral science on measures of early childhood socio-cognitive development (and related household-level outcomes) for children from households receiving cash transfers in Madagascar, using a multi-arm cluster-randomized trial. Three...

Behavioral science-the study of how humans make decisions and take actions-can provide insight into a host of issues that impact the effectiveness of programs that rely on people acting in certain ways. Behavioral science can be utilized to understand how living in poverty, with chronically...

This paper examines the potential for bringing together cash transfer and parenting programs focused on child stimulation to boost child development, particularly for children ages 0-3 years. The paper reviews the rationale for linking both types of programs and the evidence to date on the...

This paper assesses how household context and characteristics shape the welfare trajectory and more specifically the accumulation of productive assets among beneficiaries of the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme in Rwanda, the government's flagship social assistance program. The analysis is based...

On the basis of the baseline data collected for the evaluation of the Bolivian Social Investment Fund (SIF) this paper assesses (1) the benefit incidence of the SIF and (2) the quality of the evaluation design. We find that the benefits in education are most equally distributed over the...

The second edition of the Impact Evaluation in Practice handbook is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to impact evaluation for policy makers and development practitioners. First published in 2011, it has been used widely across the development and academic communities. The book...

Using a case study approach, this comparative review examines the operational arrangements of child-focused accompanying measures in nutrition and parenting from 19 cash transfer programs. It covers both family-focused cash transfer programs for households with children, and public works...

Unlike most development initiatives, conditional cash transfer programs recently introduced in the Latin America and the Caribbean region have been subject to rigorous evaluations of their effectiveness. These programs provide money to poor families, conditional on certain behavior, usually...

Several developing economies have recently introduced conditional cash transfer programs, which provide money to poor families contingent on certain behavior, usually investments in human capital, such as sending children to school or bringing them to health centers. The approach is both an...

Conditional cash transfers are a departure from more traditional approaches to social assistance that represents an innovative and increasingly popular channel for the delivery of social services. Conditional cash transfers provide money to poor families contingent upon certain behaviour,...