New study highlights the health benefits of humanitarian cash-for-work schemes

The diet and health of the poorest people in developing countries could benefit from cash-for-work schemes, Cambridge University research has shown for the first time.

Despite previous concerns that the physical labour and long hours involved in humanitarian cash-for-work schemes could be detrimental to the health of the extreme poor, the study has provided the first clear evidence of a positive impact on enrolled households.

The results showed that those taking part spent some of the money they earned on a greater quantity and variety of food. Family members, including children, were found to increase in weight and nearly three-quarters of households paid for medical treatment for themselves or a family member, rather than delaying or forgoing treatment altogether.

"Our results indicate that implementing a cash-for-work programme at a crucial time of year can be an important aspect of poverty-alleviating programmes worldwide," explains Professor Mascie-Taylor, in the Department of Biological Anthropology, who led the research.

The new research focuses on the Bangladesh chars-dwellers, whose homes and livelihoods are frequently washed away when the flat island (chars) on which they live are submerged during the annual monsoon season.

This cash-for-work programme provided approximately 2.6 million person-days of paid work constructing earthen plinths to lift homes above the flood plain and is one aspect of the Chars Livelihoods Programme, funded by the UK Department for International Development. The Programme aims to sustainably improve the lives of over 50,000 extremely poor households in the chars by providing income-generating assets such as livestock and vegetable gardens.

Humanitarian assistance organisations working in impoverished or disaster-affected communities around the world are placing increasing emphasis on cash-for-work schemes, as opposed to short-term food aid, because they help people to rebuild their homes and livelihoods for the long-term. However, the few research studies conducted to date have produced conflicting results on the nutritional benefits of this type of intervention.

The study was published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (88, 854-860). Further information about Professor Mascie-Taylor’s work can also be found in the forthcoming November issue of the University’s research magazine, Research Horizons, and at www.research-horizons.cam.ac.uk/

Photo credit: Professor Nick Mascie-Taylor.