IFPRI, together with Cornell University and World Vision-Haiti, is conducting a state-of-the-art evaluation to compare the implementation, impact and cost-benefit of two approaches to targeting Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) with a food aid component. The traditional “recuperative” approach targets food and health care services to malnourished children, whereas the more innovative “preventive” approach targets all children below two years of age, to prevent rather than cure malnutrition.

In 1998, the Government of Mexico selected IFPRI to evaluate its Education, Health and Nutrition Program, PROGRESA (now called Oportunidades). PROGRESA is a targeted poverty alleviation program providing cash benefits to eligible families conditioned on school attendance and participation in health services. By the end of 1999, PROGRESA covered approximately 2.6 million families—about 40 percent of all rural families. Findings from IFPRI’s evaluation led the incoming Government of Mexico to expand PROGRESA to urban areas as well. Based on this evaluation, IFPRI was invited to evaluate conditional cash transfer programs in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Brazil.

Modeled on PROGRESA, the Red de Protección Social provides cash benefits to some of Nicaragua’s poorest, conditional on families’ participation in education, health and nutrition services. IFPRI’s evaluation of RPS found substantial increases in purchases of food, a reduction in stunting in children under five, and a rise in school enrollment. IFPRI’s balanced but generally favorable evaluation played an important role in the decision by the Government of Nicaragua and the Inter-American Development Bank to continue this program and expand it nationwide.