In Nepal, researchers supported by theWorld Bank's Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund workedwith the government to develop a program to inform pregnantwomen and mothers of young children on how to best care forthemselves and their children, using already ongoingcommunity meetings to deliver messages. An impact evaluationwas designed to measure the effectiveness of the informationand to test whether combining this with a short-term cashtransfer for mothers made it more effective. The evaluationfound that mothers who received both information and cashreported a higher likelihood of breastfeeding their babiesand reported that they took recommended vitamins and theirhouseholds consumed more calories. Also, their children hadbetter fine and gross motor skills as compared to thecontrol group, which didn't receive this intervention.But there weren't any reductions in malnutrition. Twoyears later, after a devastating earthquake in 2015,researchers returned and found that while mothers stillretained more knowledge on good nutrition practices, theirchildren didn't show any continued development gains.The results are helping the Government of Nepal as itconsiders new steps for improving child development, and thematerials used during the meetings to inform women abouthealthy nutrition have been adopted for wider use.
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