81213
                  enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database



                        Child Growth, Shocks and Food Aid in Rural Ethiopia

      Author(s)            Takashi Yamano, Harold Alderman, Luc Christiaensen
      Contact              lchristiaensen@worldbank.org

      Country              Ethiopia

  Organizing Theme         Health

       Status              Completed

Intervention Category      Food Aid

       Sector              Health, Nutrition & Population
                           Child stunting in Ethiopia has persisted at alarming rates, despite enormous amounts of
                           food aid, often procured in response to shocks. Using nationally representative data, the
                           study finds that while harvest failure leads to child growth faltering, food aid affected child
                           growth positively and offset the negative effects of shocks in communities that received
      Abstract
                           food aid. However, many communities that experienced shocks did not receive food aid. In
                           sum, while food aid has helped reduce child malnutrition, inflexible food aid targeting,
                           together with endemic poverty and limited maternal education, has left the prevalence of
                           child stunting at alarming levels.
 Gender Connection         Gender Informed Analysis

  Gender Outcomes          Gender disaggregated nutrition

     IE Design             Instrumental Variable
                           Food aid in Ethiopia is allocated in two stages. In a first stage, aid is assigned to local
                           communities based on their needs and previous food-aid received. Aid is then allocated to
    Intervention
                           households through a Food For Work scheme and no able bodied individuals can receive
                           free aid.
 Intervention Period       Food aid is ongoing but the study dates include 1995-1996

  Sample population        The sample is comprised of 2089 children under five years old.
                           The study compares families who received food aid to similar families that did not receive
Comparison conditions
                           food aid.
   Unit of analysis        Child level

  Evaluation Period        1995-1996
                           Food aid has a positive significant impact on the growth in height of children. The total
                           amount of food aid appears on average to be sufficient to offset the negative effects of plot
       Results             damage on child growth. Given the fact there remains massive amounts of child stunting,
                           there must be large amounts of mis-targeting of aid. Girls seem to be more resilient to
                           shocks than boys.

   Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                        1
                   enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database


Primary study limitations

    Funding Source
                            Yamano, T., Alderman, H., & Christiaensen, L. (2005). Child growth, shocks, and food aid
      Reference(s)
                            in rural Ethiopia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 87(2), 273-288.
    Link to Studies
                            http://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/87/2/273.short
       Microdata




    Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                   2