Effect of Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) to Pregnant and Lactating Mothers Along with Health Education Awareness Program and Psychosocial Stimulation on Children's Cognition and Behaviour in Rural Bangladesh

Early Child Development (ECD) activities [1-5] and conditional cash transfer [6] improve children’s abilities. However, though unconditional cash transfer (UCT) improves child health[7] and nutrition[8], little is known about the effect of UCT along with health and ECD programs on children’s cognition and behavior. Ministry of Women & Children Affair (MoWCA), the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is conducting a UCT program for poor rural pregnant women with health education covering a 2-years period. We plan to add ECD activities to this program when children are 6-8 months and measure children’s development, behaviour and growth. We will also measure cost effectiveness of the intervention to facilitate government’s decision.