Doctoral Dissertation Research: An anthropological exploration of the efficacy of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) on food security

印第安纳大学博士候选人Ana De Lima将在Eduardo Brondízio教授的指导下，研究条件现金转移（CCT）项目对儿童饮食营养的影响。该研究将重点研究巴西政府的家庭现金转移支付项目Bolsa Família (BFP)，该项目自2003年启动以来得到了广泛评估，是分析有条件现金转移支付的一个极好的基准，而且该项目所服务的农村地区的加工食品消费量一直在上升。该研究将特别关注不同食物供应策略家庭中母亲的福利管理与儿童食物摄入量之间的关系。除了记录资金管理之外，他们还将调查母亲对良好饮食的理解如何影响儿童的营养。本研究将采用综合方法，包括在杂货店购物时的参与者观察、采用结构化访谈的家庭调查、家庭食品储藏室的清单、食品生产和消费采购、饮食召回、人体测量和指甲碎片的同位素分析（以阐明饮食史）。研究人员将进行12个月的实地考察。对有条件现金援助的许多评估，如BFP和对儿童营养的影响，得出了不一致的结果。这可能是因为它们主要关注数量和短期。这项研究建立在先前经济和营养人类学研究的基础上，增加了BFP作为调查对象。这项研究将开发和检验一种经验概念模型和方法，以阐明现金转移政策、家庭经济和饮食决定与儿童营养之间的联系。这项研究将帮助我们更好地了解有条件现金转移支付项目的有效性，不仅在亚马逊等研究开展的地区，而且在全球范围内，随着此类项目在其他国家和大洲的实施。研究结果还将有助于更好地了解美国的社会援助项目。食品安全，特别是影响到儿童的食品安全，近年来一直是美国政府的首要举措。了解现金援助计划如何有助于营养饮食和其他情况下的肥胖，将导致更健康的人口。有人认为，贫穷家庭的营养不良是造成贫穷长期存在的一个因素。

Indiana University PhD candidate, Ana De Lima, supervised by Prof. Eduardo Brondízio, will investigate the impact of condition cash transfer (CCT) programs on the nutrition of children's diets. The research will focus the study on the Brazilian government's family cash transfer program, the Bolsa Família (BFP), which is an excellent baseline for analyzing CCTs as it has been widely assessed since its inception in 2003 and consumption of processed foods in the rural areas it serves has been on the rise. In particular, the study will look at associations between management of the benefit by mothers in households with different food provisioning strategies and children's food intake. In addition to documenting the management of funds, they will investigate how the mothers' understanding of what represents a good diet influences children's nutrition. This research will use an integrative methodological approach that includes participant observation during grocery shopping, household surveys using structured interviews, inventories of house pantries, food production and procurement for consumption, dietary recalls, anthropometry, and isotope analysis of fingernail fragments (to elucidate dietary history). The researchers will undertake 12 months of fieldwork.Many evaluations of CCTs such as the BFP and the impact on child nutrition have yielded inconsistent results. This is likely because of their largely quantitative, short-term foci. This research builds upon previous research in economic and nutritional anthropology, adding the BFP as an object of inquiry. This research will develop and test an empirical conceptual model and methodology to elucidate linkages among cash transfer policies, household economic and dietary decision, and child nutrition.This research will help us better understand how effective CCT programs are not only in areas such as Amazonas where the research will take place, but globally as such programs are implemented to other countries and continents. The results will also contribute to a better understanding of social assistance programs in the U.S. Food security, particularly as it affects children, has been a top initiative of the U.S. government in recent years. Understanding how cash assistance programs contribute to nutritious diets and in other cases obesity will lead to a healthier population. It has been argued that poor nutrition among poor families is a contributing factor to perpetuating poverty.