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                    enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database



    Impact evaluation of school feeding programmes in Lao People's Democratic Republic

    Author(s)         Alison Buttenheim, Harold Alderman, Jed Friedman
    Contact           abutt@whatron.upenn.edu

    Country           Laos

Organizing Theme      Health, Education and Skills

     Status           Completed
  Intervention
                      School Feeding
    Category
     Sector           Health, Nutrition & Population
                      Despite the popularity and widespread implementation of school feeding programmes, evidence of
                      their impact on school participation and nutritional status is mixed. In this study we evaluate
                      feeding programmes in three districts of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Feeding modalities
                      included on-site feeding, take-home rations, and a combined modality. District-level
    Abstract          implementation of the intervention sites and selective take-up presented considerable evaluation
                      challenges. To address these, we use difference-in-difference estimators with propensity-score
                      weighting to construct plausible counterfactuals. We find minimal evidence that school feeding
                      increased enrolment or improved nutritional status. Several robustness checks and possible
                      explanations for null findings are presented.
    Gender
                      Gender Informed Analysis
   Connection
Gender Outcomes       Gender disaggregated school enrollment, nutrition

   IE Design          Propensity Score Matching, Difference in Difference
                      The World Food Program originally provided daily snack from corn-soya blend and take home
                      rations of canned fish and rice for girls and for informal boarders to encourage enrollment and
  Intervention        continued attendance. In 2006 the WFP expanded their feeding scheme to 7 additional districts. In
                      the end take home rations were provided to both girls and boys with a separate additional ration
                      for take home boarders.
  Intervention
                      2006-2008; the program provided a daily snack and take home rations
     Period
                      The sample comes from a longitudinal survey of approximately 4500 households with school aged
                      children in rural villages in four districts of northern Laos. The households were randomly selected
Sample population     using a multli-stage probability sampling scheme. The sample used from this study is restricted to
                      children aged 3-14 living in villages with schools, totaling 10748 children in 2006 and 9810 children
                      in 2008.
  Comparison          Children living in districts with the feeding scheme are compared with similar children in districts
   conditions         without the feeding scheme.
 Unit of analysis     Child level

Evaluation Period     2006-2008


    Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                         1
                  enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database


                    The program does not have an impact on school enrollment. Some of the specifications presented
                    show that the program leads to earlier school entry. When looking at school feeding as a
   Results
                    continuous variable, the impact on enrollment is actually negative. The program has no impact on
                    nutritional status.
Primary study
                    There are significant difference between baseline means of control and treatment districts.
 limitations
Funding Source      World Food Program, World Bank Research Committee
                    Buttenheim, Alison, Harold Alderman, and Jed Friedman. "Impact evaluation of school feeding
 Reference(s)
                    programs in Lao PDR." World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series No. 5518, Vol (2011).
Link to Studies
                    https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/3291/WPS5518.pdf?sequence=1
  Microdata




   Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                       2