An assessment of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud poverty alleviation program in Rwanda and Uganda

Michael O. Harhay (), Mary C. Smith Fawzi (), Sacha Jeanneret (), Damascène Ndayisaba (), William Kibaalya (), Emily A. Harrison () and Dylan S. Small ()
Additional contact information
Michael O. Harhay: University of Pennsylvania
Mary C. Smith Fawzi: Harvard Medical School
Sacha Jeanneret: Franҫois-Xavier Bagnoud International
Damascène Ndayisaba: Franҫois-Xavier Bagnoud International
William Kibaalya: Franҫois-Xavier Bagnoud International
Emily A. Harrison: Harvard University
Dylan S. Small: University of Pennsylvania

International Journal of Public Health, 2017, vol. 62, issue 2, No 8, 252 pages

Abstract: Abstract Objectives We evaluate the three-year community-based FXBVillage poverty-alleviation model, which provides extremely poor families with sustained social support and graduated material support for education, healthcare, housing, nutrition, and income-generation. Methods We combine a pre/post analysis of participant households in Rwanda (n = 912) and Uganda (n = 628) with construction and assessment of a combined multivariable household wealth index comparing FXBVillage data with national Demographic Health Surveys. Results Many FXBVillage households shifted to higher household wealth quintiles. This shift was particularly strong in Rwanda. Increases among relevant household characteristics included (in Rwanda/Uganda): ≥3 meals/day (5–88%)/(44–86%), school attendance 5–17 years (79–97%)/(64–89%), adequate school supplies (7–97%)/(4–71%), and communal financial support if needed (27–98%)/(29–87%). Universal bednet ownership and water treatment was nearly attained; vaccine coverage was not, especially in Uganda. Conclusions The model likely supports poverty-alleviation among participants. The variability of improvements, across indicators and countries, highlights the need for better understanding of interactions within programs and between programs and implementation settings, as well as how these interactions matter to poverty-reduction strategies.

Keywords: Poverty reduction; Rwanda; Uganda; Evaluation; Graduation program; Ultra-poor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00038-016-0907-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ijphth:v:62:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s00038-016-0907-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/00038

DOI: 10.1007/s00038-016-0907-8

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Thomas Kohlmann, Nino Künzli and Andrea Madarasova Geckova

More articles in International Journal of Public Health from Springer, Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().