Cash Transfers, Vouchers and Food in Ecuador
Solution types
Financial Transfers
Problems addressed
Sexual violence
Violence against women
Effectiveness

Effective

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Effective

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Life periods served
Teenagers (14 to 17 years)
Adults (18 to 59 years)
Where the program was applied
Community (streets or community centers)
Country of application
Ecuador
Description

This is a program of cash transfers, vouchers and/or food baskets for poor Ecuadorian women or Colombian refugees with their families. It aims to reduce poverty and improve food security, as well as to strengthen the role women play in the family and reduce intimate partner violence.
The intervention was carried out by the World Food Program, and cash transfers to women are conditional on attending monthly nutrition training courses. The program was implemented in the provinces of Carchi and Sucumbios in northern Ecuador. It included seven urban centers with a poor Ecuadorian population and a high number of Colombian refugees.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation indicates that the transfers reduced control behaviors and physical and/or sexual violence by 6-7 percentage points. The impact did not vary by transfer modality, demonstrating that both monetary and material transfers are effective [1].
The study had an experimental design with a sample of 2,357 families that participated in a baseline survey before the start of the program and 2,122 at the end of the program [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Hidrobo, M., Peterman, A. y Heise, L. (2016). The Effect of Cash, Vouchers, and Food Transfers on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Northern Ecuador. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 8(3), 284–303. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20150048

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