Evidence Review: Leveraging Social Protection Programs for Improved Nutrition

In 2016, following the 2015 Global Forum on Nutrition-Sensitive Social Protection Programs, a background paper, which originally served as a springboard for discussion at the Forum, was shared on SecureNutrition and represents a synthesis of evidence from nearly 120 references with a heavy focus on program evaluations.

Download the report English

Download the report English

The paper reviews the global reach, expansion, budgets, and impacts of social protection programs broadly, and then explores whether and how nutrition outcomes can be acheived through instruments such as cash transfers, food voucher programs, school feeding, and others. The paper also introduces three indicative pathways that help to conceptualize the links from social protection programs to nutrition outcomes, according to income, prices, and behaviors.

The paper finds that social protection transfers tend to increase household budget devoted to food–often more than other income sources–and highlights evidence that transfers can change diet composition and quality. The report ends with five takeaways for program designers and policymakers, and offers a way to tap into the “vast potential for such programs to contribute to improvements in health and development.”

The report was produced by Harold Alderman, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).