Evaluation of the Welfare Impacts of a Livestock Transfer Program in Nepal

This study is designed to evaluate the welfare impacts of Heifer International's (HI) Smallholders in Livestock Value Chain Program (SLVC) in rural Nepal using a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT). The program targets women in poor rural communities, and provides a package of benefi ts that includes a livestock transfer (two doe goats and a shared breeding buck), technical training on improved animal management and entrepreneurship, self-help group (SHG) formation, and values-based training. Rather unique to the HI program, the values-based training encourages bene ficiaries to "pay it forward" (PIF) by sharing newly acquired technical skills and giving the first-born female offspring of their received goats to another individual in their community. The RCT assigned three treatments at the village level: In the first treatment
arm of our study, bene ficiaries received a full treatment (FT) package that included a livestock transfer, skills-based technical training and values-based non-technical training. In the second treatment arm, bene ficiaries received skills-based technical training and values-based
non-technical training, but not goats (NG). In the third treatment arm bene ficiaries received a livestock transfer and skills-based technical training, but not values-based non-technical training (NVT). Because encouragement to pay forward bene fits is the primary element of
the values-based training, the third treatment arm allows analysis of the PIF mechanism. To analyze the PIF mechanism, the sample includes two types of beneficiaries: those directly targeted and potential PIF beneficiaries. Data was collected in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. An initial pre-analysis plan outlined data analysis plans for the 2016 survey, while a second pre-analysis plan outlines data analysis plans for the 2017-2018 data.