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

印第安纳大学博士生Ana de Lima在Eduardo Brondízio教授的指导下，将调查条件现金转移(CCT)计划对儿童饮食营养的影响。这项研究将把重点放在巴西政府的家庭现金转移项目Bolsa Família(BFP)上，该项目是分析CCT的一个极好的基准，因为自2003年启动以来，该项目得到了广泛的评估，其服务的农村地区的加工食品消费量一直在上升。特别是，这项研究将研究具有不同食物供应策略的家庭的母亲对收益的管理与儿童食物摄入量之间的关系。除了记录资金管理外，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。这项研究将使用一种综合的方法，包括在杂货店购物期间的参与者观察，使用结构化访谈的家庭调查，房屋储藏室的库存，供消费的食品生产和采购，饮食召回，人体测量，以及指甲碎片的同位素分析(以阐明饮食历史)。研究人员将进行为期12个月的实地调查。许多对CCT的评估，如BFP和对儿童营养的影响，都产生了不一致的结果。这很可能是因为他们主要关注数量上的、短期的。这项研究建立在以前的经济和营养人类学研究的基础上，增加了BFP作为调查对象。这项研究将开发和测试一个经验性的概念模型和方法，以阐明现金转移政策、家庭经济和饮食决策以及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项目不仅在研究将进行的亚马逊等地区有效，而且随着此类项目在其他国家和大陆实施，在全球范围内也是如此。这一结果还将有助于更好地了解美国的社会援助计划。粮食安全，特别是在影响儿童的情况下，一直是美国政府近年来的首要倡议。了解现金援助计划如何有助于营养饮食，在其他情况下，肥胖将导致更健康的人口。有人认为，贫困家庭营养不良是造成长期贫困的一个因素。

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.