Tanguy Bernard

When Does Community Conservatism Constrain Village Organizations

Formal village organizations can be classified into market‐oriented (MO) and community‐oriented (CO) organizations, with the former aimed at raising members’ incomes and the latter at delivering local public goods. This study investigates the role of community conservatism in opposing economic differentiation and, thereby, constraining the emergence, configuration, and activities of MOs in West Africa. To do this, we develop a model where we show that, if these conservative forces are important, MOs need to be larger than would otherwise be optimal in order to gain acceptability and emerge. This, in turn, has an impact on their governance structure, as the needed extra members demand a more participatory decision‐making process in order to secure the delivery of club goods, constraining the exercise of leadership. With very high community conservatism, no MO can emerge. Using a data set of 646 village organizations in Burkina Faso, we identify a sharp contrast in initial size and governance structure between the first MO to emerge in a village and subsequent MOs. This is consistent with the results of the model if first MOs face strong social conservatism, while the social environment is more tolerant for subsequent MOs.

The Future in Mind: Aspirations and Forward-Looking Behaviour in Rural Ethiopia

Poor people often do not make investments, even when returns are high. One possible explanation is that they have low aspirations and form mental models which ignore some options for investment. This paper reports on findings of an innovative experiment to test this in rural Ethiopia. Firstly, individuals were randomly invited to watch documentaries about people from similar communities who had succeeded in agriculture or small business, without help from government or NGOs. A placebo group watched an Ethiopian entertainment programme and a control group were simply surveyed. Secondly, the number of invitees was varied by village to assess the importance of peer effects in the formation of aspirations. Six months after the screening of the documentaries, aspirations had improved among treated individuals but did not change in the placebo or control groups. Effects were larger for those with higher aspirations at baseline. We also find evidence of treatment effects on savings and credit behaviour, children’s school enrolment and investments in children’s schooling, suggesting that changes in aspirations can translate into changes in forward-looking behaviour. There are also positive treatment effects on a set of related measures from psychology and sociology, including a measure of locus of control, which theory predicts should behave in similar ways to aspirations. We also find that peer effects result in further impact on educational spending and induce more work and less leisure. That a one-hour documentary shown six months earlier induces such actual behavioural change offers challenging and promising areas for further research and the design of poverty-related interventions.

Social Interaction Effects and Connection to Electricity: Experimental Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

This article assesses the importance of social interactions in determining an individual’s choice to connect to an electrical grid, using an original data set on a new rural electrification program in Ethiopia. Combining global positioning system information with random allocation of discount vouchers for connection to the grid, we show that neighbors’ connection behaviors have large effects on a household’s connection decision. This effect is also shown to decrease by distance: no peer effect is found for neighbors living farther than 100 meters away. Evidence also suggests that expectation interactions (through social learning of the benefits of electricity) or constraint interactions (through direct externalities of one’s connection on others’ well-being) are unlikely to fully account for these effects and that preference interactions (through a “keeping up with neighbors” type of mechanism) appear to be a plausible explanation. We discuss implications for further research and the design of development interventions.

Delivery of iron-fortified yoghurt, through a dairy value chain program, increases hemoglobin concentration among children 24 to 59 months old in Northern Senegal: A cluster-randomized control trial

Background Innovative strategies are needed to enhance the nutritional impact of agriculture. Value chain approaches, which use supply chains to add value (usually economic) to products as they move from producers to consumers, can be used to increase access to nutritious foods and improve nutritional status. This study tested whether a dairy value chain could be used to distribute a micronutrient-fortified yoghurt (MNFY) (conditional upon the producer supplying a minimum amount of cow milk/day) to improve hemoglobin and reduce anemia among preschool children in a remote area in Northern Senegal. Methods A cluster randomized control trial was used to compare 204 children (24 to 59 months of age at baseline) from households who received the MNFY coupled to a behavior change communication (BCC) campaign focusing on anemia prevention to 245 children from a control group (receiving BCC only) after one year. Randomization was done at the level of the family concession (households from the same family) (n = 321). Eligible households had a child of the target age and were willing to deliver milk to the dairy factory. Changes in anemia and hemoglobin between groups were assessed using mixed regression models. Key findings Anemia prevalence was very high at baseline (80%) and dropped to close to 60% at endline, with no differences between intervention groups. Hemoglobin increased by 0.55 g/dL, 95%CI (0.27; 0.84) more in the intervention compared to the control group after one year, in models that controlled for potentially confounding factors. The impact was greater (0.72 g/dL, 95%CI (0.34; 1.12)) for boys, compared to girls (0.38 g/dL, 95%CI (-0.03; 0.80)). Conclusion The dairy value chain was a successful strategy to distribute MNFY among pastoralists in Northern Senegal, and increase Hb concentrations among their children. This study is one of the first proofs of concept showing that a nutrition-sensitive agriculture value chain approach can contribute to improved child nutrition in a remote pastoralist population. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02079961

Nutrition incentives in dairy contract farming in northern Senegal

Abstract In developing countries contract farming faces numerous challenges that many times lead to its failure. Innovations that help overcome the difficulties of contracting with a large pool of small farmers in such settings can enhance the viability of such schemes. We use a randomized control trial design combined with high frequency data to investigate the impact of adding a nutrition‐based incentive in contracts between a Senegalese dairy processing factory and its semi‐nomadic milk suppliers. The incentive rewarded suppliers for consistent milk deliveries with daily delivery of a micro‐nutrient fortified yogurt for each young child in corresponding households. Findings show large and significant impacts on the frequency and amount of milk delivered, albeit limited to the dry season. We also find larger impacts on milk deliveries when contracts are managed by women.

Expected Product Market Reforms and Technology Adoption by Senegalese Onion Producers

We empirically assess the responsiveness of Senegalese onion producers to significant changes in product market conditions, whereby onions are sold no longer based on volume but on weight and with labeling certifying quality. A village-level randomized information campaign on the upcoming introduction of these market reforms induced significant increase by farmers in the use of quality-enhancing inputs. Delays in the effective introduction of scales enabled us to show positive price returns from these quality- enhancing investments. These results point to the importance of improvements in the functioning of product markets to trigger technology adoption by farmers. Introduction of scales and labels was, however, not sustained as it challenged the market power of wholesale intermediaries. For these reforms to be sustainable, effective market regulation would be necessary.