Doctoral Dissertation Research: An anthropological exploration of the efficacy of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) on food security

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

Indiana University PhD candidate, Ana De Lima, supervised by Prof. Eduardo Brondízio, will investigate the impact of condition cash transfer (CCT) programs on the nutrition of children's diets. The research will focus the study on the Brazilian government's family cash transfer program, the Bolsa Família (BFP), which is an excellent baseline for analyzing CCTs as it has been widely assessed since its inception in 2003 and consumption of processed foods in the rural areas it serves has been on the rise. In particular, the study will look at associations between management of the benefit by mothers in households with different food provisioning strategies and children's food intake. In addition to documenting the management of funds, they will investigate how the mothers' understanding of what represents a good diet influences children's nutrition. This research will use an integrative methodological approach that includes participant observation during grocery shopping, household surveys using structured interviews, inventories of house pantries, food production and procurement for consumption, dietary recalls, anthropometry, and isotope analysis of fingernail fragments (to elucidate dietary history). The researchers will undertake 12 months of fieldwork. Many evaluations of CCTs such as the BFP and the impact on child nutrition have yielded inconsistent results. This is likely because of their largely quantitative, short-term foci. This research builds upon previous research in economic and nutritional anthropology, adding the BFP as an object of inquiry. This research will develop and test an empirical conceptual model and methodology to elucidate linkages among cash transfer policies, household economic and dietary decision, and child nutrition. This research will help us better understand how effective CCT programs are not only in areas such as Amazonas where the research will take place, but globally as such programs are implemented to other countries and continents. The results will also contribute to a better understanding of social assistance programs in the U.S. Food security, particularly as it affects children, has been a top initiative of the U.S. government in recent years. Understanding how cash assistance programs contribute to nutritious diets and in other cases obesity will lead to a healthier population. It has been argued that poor nutrition among poor families is a contributing factor to perpetuating poverty.