Community Development and Livestock Promotion in Rural Nepal: Effects on Child Growth and Health
In a two-year RCT, Miller et al. (2014) evaluated the effects of Heifer Nepal’s SHGs on child health and nutrition in six communities. They found that Heifer’s programming resulted in greater incremental improvement on height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ) z-scores for children under five years of age in the intervention group. Longer participation was associated with better HAZ. There were no notable differences found for children’s health between the intervention vs. control groups, though household sanitary practices such as treating drinking water and washing hands after changing diapers improved during the intervention. The program also resulted in improved socioeconomic status and household income per family member.