Comparing effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Cash Plus interventions in preventing Acute Malnutrition in Somalia

Project overview

The project will be testing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Cash Plus interventions on the wasting status of children under five and pregnant and lactating women.

Countries
Somalia
Organisations
Save the Children
Partners
Johns Hopkins University, Somali Ministry of Health, Somali National Bureau of Statistics
Area of funding
Humanitarian Research
Grant amount
£360,000
Start date
01
April
2023
End date
01
March
2025
Project length (in months)
23
Funding calls
R2HC Annual Funding Call
R2HC Call for research in response to current or anticipated humanitarian health crises
Focus areas
No items found.
Topics
Cash transfers
Maternal and child health
Nutrition
Status
Live

Project solution

This project offers [specific solution or intervention] to tackle [challenge]. By implementing [strategies, tools, or innovations], the project aims to achieve [desired outcomes]. The approach is designed to [specific actions or methods] to bring about meaningful change in [community, region, or issue area].

Expected outcomes

This project aims to achieve [specific outcomes], such as [measurable results, improvements, or changes]. The expected impact includes [benefits to the target community, advancements in research or innovation, or long-term effects]. By the end of the project, we anticipate [specific changes or milestones] that will contribute to [broader goals or objectives].

Courtland Robinson

Johns Hopkins University

As cash transfers are becoming an increasingly common mode of delivering aid in humanitarian contexts, we need to know more about how cash transfers affect relationships in the lives of people in these contexts. A deeper understanding of how cash transfers influence gender dynamics in households will enable organisations to design better and higher quality cash transfer programmes in line with do-no-harm principles.

Dr Nadia Akseer

Johns Hopkins University

Providing cash support to children and families in emergencies is often the crux of humanitarian efforts, yet high-quality evidence on impact and cost-effectiveness of such programs is limited, typically due to the acute nature and large-scale displacement of affected populations. Building on the global evidence and approaches on Cash for Nutrition from Save the Children, this R2HC-funded research provides an invaluable opportunity to study these vulnerable groups in the long-established programmatic settings of Save the Children in Somalia, and with rigorous design and analysis support from JHU and strong engagement from local communities and cash/nutrition key stakeholders. Coupled with strong research uptake and dissemination efforts, we are excited for the reach and potential impact of study findings.

Principal Investigators: Dr. Nadia Akseer

Purpose


This study aims to compare three different cash interventions: monthly multipurpose cash transfers (MPC), MPC plus social behaviour change communication, and MPC plus top-up cash.

The research aims to measure nutritional outcomes after 3, 6 and 9 months of treatment, using a randomised controlled trial and mixed methods approaches.

The study seeks to determine and compare the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of each approach in preventing wasting of children under five and pregnant and lactating women in Somalia.

Expected Outcomes


The research will produce evidence to inform more cost-effective programmes to prevent acute malnutrition which will decrease the number of acutely malnourished children. Results aim to influence the national nutrition cluster in Somalia and cash working groups, as well as Save the Children’s own programming.

This should lead to improvements in humanitarian health policy by strengthening humanitarian responses to reach larger numbers through a decrease of costs for programmes treating acutely malnourished children and pregnant and lactating women.

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Resources

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Latest updates

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Cash transfers
Maternal and child health
Nutrition
No items found.
Save the Children
Somalia