Evaluating the Long-Run Impact of an Innovative Anti-Poverty Program: Evidence Using Household Panel Data

Using a four-round panel data set from the first phase of the Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction – Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR – TUP) programme of BRAC, we investigate whether a one-off transfer of livestock assets improves well-being of the very poor women in Bangladesh. Programme impact is assessed on a wide range of monetary and nonmonetary measures of wellbeing using difference-in-difference (DD) as well as matching methods. We find significant positive long-term impact on food security, household savings, assets and participation in microfinance. Participant women are less likely to be in distress occupation and more into self-employment. However, the long-term effect is much smaller for most outcomes when compared to short- and medium-run impacts. We conclude by discussing the significance of the institutional and regional context for the observed time path of estimated programme effect

Grant Based Approach to Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Bangladesh

A large scale programme that provides grants along with background support services was implemented by BRAC in an effort to alleviate extreme poverty using a grant-based approach known as Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction (CFPR). At the beginning of the programme, the participants are provided with income generating assets and training on various issues over a course of two years so that they may graduate into mainstream poverty. The objective of this study is to see the impacts of the CFPR programme two years after the intervention. We have analysed a two round panel dataset from 2007 (baseline) and 2009 (end-line) using the propensity score matching methodology. Results show that not only did the level of income and savings go up amongst the participants, employments dynamics changed from dead end jobs such as working as housemaids and day labourers to more entrepreneurial activities. Furthermore, results also show that the level of food security had also improved. The participants were able to expand their asset base beyond what was provided by the programme initially. Though public expenditures for the poor are not insignificant, often suffer from substantial leakages either through corruption or mismanagement, rendering them toothless. This paper finds that the CFPR approach as implemented by BRAC is clearly an effective strategy to fight ultra poverty in a sustainable manner which can be replicable in other developing country

Grant Based Approach to Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Bangladesh

A large scale programme that provides grants along with background support services was implemented by BRAC in an effort to alleviate extreme poverty using a grant-based approach known as Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction (CFPR). At the beginning of the programme, the participants are provided with income generating assets and training on various issues over a course of two years so that they may graduate into mainstream poverty. The objective of this study is to see the impacts of the CFPR programme two years after the intervention. We have analysed a two round panel dataset from 2007 (baseline) and 2009 (end-line) using the propensity score matching methodology. Results show that not only did the level of income and savings go up amongst the participants, employments dynamics changed from dead end jobs such as working as housemaids and day labourers to more entrepreneurial activities. Furthermore, results also show that the level of food security had also improved. The participants were able to expand their asset base beyond what was provided by the programme initially. Though public expenditures for the poor are not insignificant, often suffer from substantial leakages either through corruption or mismanagement, rendering them toothless. This paper finds that the CFPR approach as implemented by BRAC is clearly an effective strategy to fight ultra poverty in a sustainable manner which can be replicable in other developing country

How far does a big push really push?

BRAC implemented the Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Specially Targeted Ultra-Poor (CFPR) program in 2002 to mitigate ultra-poverty in the poorest districts of Bangladesh, providing multifaceted support in the form of asset-transfer, food-stipends, education, healthcare and social support for two years. Utilizing a four-round panel data spanning 9 years and combining regression and propensity score weighting, we evaluate CFPR’s short and long term impact on income, employment, social status, food security and asset ownership. While remarkable effects of CFPR are evident in short and medium-term (up to 6 years since baseline), longer-term effects (up to 9 years) are smaller. The latter happens due to a variety of factors including faster catch-up by the control group, due partly to various new interventions by state and non-state sectors. We see a shift from begging, working as maids and day-laboring to entrepreneurial activities in the short and medium term, but many CFPR households revert back to their baseline employment by 2011. Analyses of the heterogeneity of effects across baseline employment and gender of the household-head reveal greater long-term impact on per-capita income for entrepreneurs and greater short-term impact for female-headed households. Overall, despite the deceleration of the effects in the long run, the program was able to successfully bring its participants out of ultra-poverty and had important demonstration effects

Evaluating the long-run impact of an innovative anti-poverty programme: evidence using household panel data

Using a four-round panel data set from the first phase of the Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction - Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR - TUP) programme of BRAC, we investigate whether a one-off transfer of livestock assets improves well-being of the very poor women in Bangladesh. Programme impact is assessed on a wide range of monetary and nonmonetary measures of well-being using difference-in-difference (DD) as well as matching methods. We find significant positive long-term impact on food security, household savings, assets and participation in microfinance. Participant women are less likely to be in distress occupation and more into self-employment. However, the long-term effect is much smaller for most outcomes when compared to short- and medium-run impacts. We conclude by discussing the significance of the institutional and regional context for the observed time path of estimated programme effect

How far does a big push really push?: Mitigating ultra-poverty in Bangladesh

BRAC implemented the Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Specially Targeted Ultra-Poor (CFPR) program in 2002 to mitigate ultra-poverty in the poorest districts of Bangladesh, providing multifaceted support in the form of asset-transfer, food-stipends, education, healthcare and social support for two years. Utilizing a four-round panel data spanning 9 years and combining regression and propensity score weighting, we evaluate CFPR’s short and long term impact on income, employment, social status, food security and asset ownership. While remarkable effects of CFPR are evident in short and medium-term (up to 6 years since baseline), longer-term effects (up to 9 years) are smaller. The latter happens due to a variety of factors including faster catch-up by the control group, due partly to various new interventions by state and non-state sectors. We see a shift from begging, working as maids and day- laboring to entrepreneurial activities in the short and medium term, but many CFPR households revert back to their baseline employment by 2011. Analyses of the heterogeneity of effects across baseline employment and gender of the household-head reveal greater long-term impact on per-capita income for entrepreneurs and greater short-term impact for female-headed households. Overall, despite the deceleration of the effects in the long run, the program was able to successfully bring its participants out of ultra-poverty and had important demonstration effects

Rising Food Price, Asset Transfers, and Household Food Security

We study the role of food price rising and income generating assets as determinants of household food insecurity among the extreme poor in rural Bangladesh for the period 2002-2011. We do so in the context of an anti-poverty program, targeting the ultra-poor (TUP), which transferred productive livestock assets to the very poor. We find a positive significant impact of the asset transfers on household’s food security irrespective of whether we use subjective or objective measures of food security. Most importantly we find that the long-term impact of the program (estimated over 2002-2011) is smaller compared to mid-term (2002-2008) and short-term (2002-2005) impacts for all the indicators. We test whether this declining program impact is driven by the steep rise in food prices in the post-2007 period. We find that in the pre-crisis period participant households benefited while in the post crisis period they affected negatively by the price shock. This result explains the declining effect of TUP program. Our analysis therefore illustrates how the external shocks can undermine the effectiveness of an otherwise well-functioning anti-poverty program