Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Kazianga, H., De Walque, D., & Alderman, H. (2012). Educational and child labour impacts of two food-for-education schemes: Evidence from a randomised trial in rural Burkina Faso. Journal of African Economies, 21(5), 723-760. doi:10.1093/jae/ejs010.
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of two food-for-education programs (a school meals program and a take home rations program) on education and labor outcomes for children. This summary focuses on the comparison between the take home rations treatment group and the control group.
- The study was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in low-income villages in northern rural Burkina Faso, West Africa. Villages were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or a control group. Survey data were collected from randomly selected households located close to the schools in the villages. Outcomes were analyzed using difference-in-differences models.
- The study found that the take home rations program significantly decreased productive labor for all children, with a larger decrease for girls than boys. For children enrolled in school at the time of the survey, the program significantly decreased productive labor for all children. The study also found that the take home rations program significantly increased school enrollment for all children.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the take home rations program, and not to other factors.
Features of the Intervention
Households in the Sahel region in northern rural Burkina Faso, West Africa are extremely poor and frequently experience food shortages. Also, the region has very low school participation rates with only 20 percent of children aged 6-16 attending school. The World Food Program (WFP) operates two food-for-education programs in the Sahel region that are conditional on school attendance. This includes canteens which provide meals to children during the school day and a take home rations program. The WFP offered a take home rations program to girls only. Girls in the take home rations program received 10 kg of cereal flour each month if they achieved a 90 percent attendance rate. School teachers, in collaboration with the WFP, oversaw the administration of the program. Attendance records were maintained by the school administration.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial. The authors randomly assigned 46 villages (each with a new school that opened in 2005-2006) to the treatment and control groups. Of these 46 villages, 16 were randomly assigned to the school meals intervention, 16 were randomly assigned to the take home rations intervention, and 14 were randomly assigned to the control group. The authors surveyed a random sample of 46 households around each new school. The food-for-education programs were implemented during the 2006-2007 school year. Data were collected from a baseline survey in June 2006 with a follow up survey in June 2007. Due to improper data collection and miscoding at baseline, the study included 15 villages in the school meals group, 15 villages in the take home rations group, and 12 villages in the control group. This resulted in an analysis sample of 2,208 households with 4,236 children (ages 6 to 15). Of these children, 1,493 children were in the school meals group, 1,498 were in the take home rations group, and 1,245 were in the control group. Child labor was measured as time spent in productive labor (e.g., farming, non-farming, and herding), domestic labor (e.g., getting water and/or firewood, household chores, and caring for younger siblings), or all labor (productive and domestic labor). Education outcomes included school enrollment and attendance. The authors used statistical models to compare the outcomes of each of the treatment groups and the control group.
Findings
Working children/Child labor
- The study found that participating in the take home rations program significantly decreased productive labor by 10 percent for all children, 12 percent for girls, and 9 percent for boys.
- For children enrolled in school at the time of the survey, the study found that participating in the take home rations program significantly decreased productive labor by 21 percent for all children and 23 percent for boys. The take home rations program did not significantly impact productive labor for girls who were enrolled in school.
- The study found that participating in the take home rations program did not significantly impact domestic labor/household chores for all children or for children enrolled in school at the time of the survey.
- Using a combined measure of productive labor and domestic labor (all child labor), there were no significant impacts for all children. Using only the sample of children enrolled in school at the time of the survey, boys showed a significant 11 percent decrease in all labor when compared to the control group but there were no significant impacts for girls.
Education (School participation/enrollment)
- When compared to the control villages, the study showed that participation in the take home rations program significantly increased school enrollment by 4.8 percentage points for all children, 5.3 percentage points for girls, and 4.5 percentage points for boys.
- In addition, the study found that children in the take home rations program villages attended significantly more days of school than those who lived in control villages. The take home rations program increased school attendance by .9 days for boys and girls, 1 day for boys, and .8 days for girls.
- However, for children who were enrolled at the time of the survey, the take home rations program significantly decreased school attendance by 1 day for girls only. No significant differences were found for enrolled boys.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
Since the take home rations program was offered at the village level, the authors estimated the average intent-to-treat and included the program impact on boys as well as girls (the target of the program). The authors also estimated the impact for all children in the village (regardless of enrollment status) and for children who were enrolled in school at the time of the survey. The study includes domestic labor as part of the aggregate measure of child labor which are excluded here because they are not part of CLEAR’s definition of child labor. Results reported are for productive labor only.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial with low attrition. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the take home rations food program and not to other factors.