Can transfers and behavior change communication reduce intimate partner violence four years post-program? Experimental evidence from Bangladesh

Shalini Roy, Melissa Hidrobo, John Hoddinott, Bastien Koch and Akhter Ahmed ()

No 1869, IFPRI discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: Little is known about whether reductions in intimate partner violence (IPV) from cash transfer programs persist over the longer term. Using a randomized controlled trial design, we show that a program providing poor women in rural Bangladesh with cash or food transfers, alongside nutrition behavior change communication (BCC), led to sustained reductions in IPV 4 years after the program ended. Transfers alone showed no sustained impacts on IPV. Evidence suggests cash and BCC led to more sustained impacts on IPV than food and BCC – through persistent increases in women’s bargaining power, men’s costs of perpetrating violence, and poverty-related emotional well-being.

Keywords: BANGLADESH; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; social protection; cash transfer; gender; sustainability; domestic violence; behavior change communication; intimate partner violence; J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse; D10 Household Behavior: General; I38 Welfare; Well-Being; and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs; O10 Economic Development: General (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1869

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