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AbstractThis article describes the details underlying the targeting of a Nicaraguan anti‐poverty program, emphasising the rationale for how it was designed and implemented. It offers, by way of example, a guide for targeting in an anti‐poverty program, and highlights some of the potential tradeoffs. It then goes on to present a quantitative assessment of how well the program was able to target poor households. A combination of ad hoc and statistical procedures led to targeting that was effective, with undercoverage rates of 10 per cent or below and leakage rates of 15 per cent or below. This was in spite of the fact that the targeting methodologies used were imprecise at both the household and geographic levels. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A common criticism of antipoverty programmes is that a large proportion of their budgets never reaches the intended beneficiaries but is absorbed by administration costs. Yet, there is little empirical evidence on the costs, and even less on the cost structures, of such programmes. This paper outlines and implements a replicable methodology for a disaggregated cost analysis of a pilot conditional cash transfer programme in Nicaragua, examining the administration and private costs associated with a one-unit transfer to a beneficiary - referred to as the cost-transfer ratio. We find that for a meaningful assessment of cost efficiency, it is misleading to make calculations using only the typically available raw accounting data. Rather, one must delve into the details and specific activities of the programme. This is particularly important for pilot programmes, which typically have many upfront fixed costs associated with design and setting up operations. (InWent/DÜI)

In 2000, the Nicaraguan government implemented a conditional cash transfer program designed to improve the nutritional, health, and educational status of poor households, and thereby to reduce short- and long-term poverty. Based on the Mexican government's successful PROGRESA program, Nicaragua's Red de Protección Social (RPS) sought to supplement household income, reduce primary school dropout rates, and increase the health care and nutritional status of children under the age of five. This report represents IFPRI's evaluation of phase I of RPS. It shows that the program was effective in low-income areas and particularly effective when addressing health care and education needs. The report offers the first extensive assessment of a Nicaraguan government antipoverty program. ; PR ; IFPRI1; GRP28; Public Policy and Investment ; FCND

It is often assumed that early life circumstances, in particular before age two, are important for later human capital development. Using experimental variation in the timing of benefits from a conditional cash transfer program, we test the hypothesis that intervention starting in utero and continuing in the first two years is critical. At age ten, boys exposed to the program during this period had better cognitive, but not anthropometric, outcomes than those exposed in their second year of life or later. The lack of a differential effect on anthropometrics was due catch-up growth.