Mushfiq Mobarak in Nature: Assessing social aid: the scale-up process needs evidence, too

When programmes expand, new complexities and indirect consequences must be studied.

Landless agricultural workers and their families often go hungry between planting and harvest, the ‘lean season’ when the labour demand falls. In northern Bangladesh, my colleagues and I tested a way to ease this hunger. Instead of trying to force job creation in rural areas, we helped labourers to move temporarily to nearby cities, where construction and other jobs existed.

Our pilot study, which included 1,900 households, was evaluated through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in 2008, and it seemed to be successful. Small subsidies of US$11.50 — enough to pay for the round-trip bus fare plus a few days of food — boosted the percentage of agricultural workers heading to cities during the lean season from 36% to 58%. The families of the migrants consumed more than 600 extra calories per person each day — essentially, they were eating three meals instead of two. Moreover, about half of those who moved chose to migrate again without subsidy during subsequent lean seasons, and many found work with the same employer that they had connected with in 2008. Read more.