Food is a basic necessity of life. You probably know the grim statistics: one in four children are stunted, approximately half of all deaths among children under 5 are attributable to malnutrition, and in the developing world alone, 66 million children of … Read more

In international development, research is never purely an academic exercise. Its purpose, ultimately, is to provide knowledge that can be used to improve the lives of poor and vulnerable populations. Yet, despite increased focus on understanding the influence that research … Read more

Leah Prencipe, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti – I have just returned from rural Tanzania, where I got to see one of the largest social protection programmes in Africa in action. The Productive Social Safety Net provides three types of support … Read more

During a recent trip to Ghana, we presented the baseline findings from an impact evaluation of the LEAP 1000 cash transfer programme to UNICEF colleagues, government and development partners. LEAP 1000, an extension of Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme, … Read more

In discussions with stakeholders, there are two gender assumptions we hear repeatedly: 1. giving benefits to women (rather than men) will result in better outcomes – particularly for children 2. transfers will increase women’s empowerment. In other words, paying attention … Read more

Social cash transfers are an increasingly popular tool in African national governments’ social protection strategies, but a question that often comes up about their use is will such programmes encourage parents to have larger families in a region with stubbornly … Read more

Cash transfer programs have become an increasingly popular component of social protection strategies across sub-Saharan Africa. These programs provide monthly payments to poor and vulnerable households and can lead to multiple demonstrated benefits, such as the improvement of health and … Read more

What do snakes, flat batteries, limited privacy, and identifying a suitable cut-off point have in common? As I recently observed, they are some of the many challenges that can occur when conducting an impact evaluation in a remote village.

Mounting evidence from systematic reviews suggest that cash transfers have positive impacts on youth transitions into adulthood. Yet, data illustrating how these programs affect outcomes is generally scarce. Now new research presents evidence of these impacts, suggesting that unconditional cash … Read more

An estimated 63 million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 are currently out of school, according to a recent report by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNICEF. This is a staggering number, and the barriers to school enrolment–poverty, conflict, … Read more