Medium-Term Impacts of Integrated Social Safety Nets: Cash Transfers, Information Meetings, and Home Visits for Child Development

Richard Akresh (), Damien de de Walque, Harounan Kazianga and Abigail Stocker

No 34578, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Cash transfers are a critical part of social safety nets. However, integrated programs combining cash and parenting interventions through either group-based information meetings or home visits are recently being adopted to improve child development. Working with the Burkina Faso government, we conduct a randomized experiment in 225 rural villages to assess the impact of an integrated social safety net over the child’s life cycle. Villages were randomized to a control group or one of the following treatments: cash transfers; cash transfers plus government-run group-based information meetings focused on children’s health and psychosocial development; or cash transfers, information, and home visits reinforcing the information meetings. Fifteen months after treatment ended, households receiving cash, information, and home visits have fewer pregnancies, more medically assisted childbirths, enhanced health behaviors, and better educational outcomes. Adding home visits is essential for improving childhood development, while cash, with or without information, produces no lasting impacts.

JEL-codes: I12 I38 J13 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
Note: CH DEV
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Working Paper: Medium-Term Impacts of Integrated Social Safety Nets: Cash Transfers, Information Meetings, and Home Visits for Child Development (2025)
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