Child Growth, Shocks, and Food Aid in Rural Ethiopia

The Project

This intervention provided food aid to mitigate the negative effects of droughts, and resulting crop damage. The food aid was distributed by both (1) Free Distribution (FD) and (2) Food for Work (FFW). The food aid was distributed in about 115 communities from June 1995 to January 1996, and targeted the chronically poor and communities with relatively high levels of crop damage.

The Impact Evaluation Results

The evaluation found that:

• food aid led to children aged 6-24 months growing 1.53 cm faster in a 6 month period than if no food aid had been available. For the FD distribution method, the effect was 2.32 cm.
• on average, intra-household dynamics favored girls in protecting children aged 6-24 months from income shocks.

The Impact Evaluation Method

The evaluation employed an instrumental variables approach, using the average food-aid-need assessments in 1984-1988 (that is, up to 11 years before the period being studied) and rainfall related variables as instruments to predict the quantity of food aid received.

Click here for more information on this impact evaluation.

The above text is a summary of information taken from the PREM Group’s Impact Evaluation Website. For information on completed and ongoing impact evaluations for all regions click here.