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sell of fi rewood, declined. These fi ndings were also supported by the sample
survey, which stated that food assistance provided food for addi� onal 1.4
months (in average). However, in one household the addi� onal food was
only suffi cient for 0.4 months, sugges� ng, that the need for food aid changes
according to household characteris� cs such as family size and amount of
own produc� on. Further, these fi ndings reveal that the addi� onality to
regular sources of food is rather low, and only relaxes household constraints
immediately during and a� er the provision, but not in the longer term.
Some villagers even described the food assistance as a “snack” not being
suffi cient to feed a whole family over a longer period of � me. Nevertheless,
the addi� onal food supply seems to aff ect intra-household distribu� on, as
some women stressed that due to WFP they could eat enough. Women of
the worse-off wealth-group expressed their gra� tude by comparing WFP
with a king.
The fi ndings further reveal that food assistance was not only an
important factor for household’s assets-preserva� on, but also contribu� on
to assets-crea� on. This includes the crea� on of human capital through
informal educa� on lessons, or the construc� on of infrastructures such
as trails or buildings. Also social capital was posi� vely aff ected, as during
FFW implementa� on all members of the village regardless of their caste
of economic wealth were working (and ea� ng) together. Also the ability
to support neighbours and friends increased due to food assistance as
households had more resources to share, although the need for such help
declined during food assistance provision.
However, despite the posi� ve changes through the transfer of food,
respondents men� oned several nega� ve impacts. 45 percent of respondents
men� oned � me-constraints as a problem, as par� cipa� on in FFW prevented
them from engaging in domes� c fi eld work or employment. Although
all interviewed households regarded domes� c produc� on as the most
important source of food, the expected higher pay-off s and reliability of
food assistance led to their par� cipa� on in FFW. Yet, respondents stressed
that they would never totally give up their domes� c fi eld work; rather,
even during programme implementa� on they held down their jobs in free
� me besides FFW. This fi nding very much opposes percep� ons of food aidrecipients
becoming lazy due to food assistance. Rather, the engagement in
food-for-work must be regarded as an addi� onal strategy being combined
with other ac� vi� es. Other eff ects of � me-constraints are the employment
of children for domes� c household works, instead of sending them to
school, and confl icts among family members, reducing the overall feeling
of enhanced security through food assistance. Furthermore, food assistance
seems to create disincen� ves for par� cipa� on in VDC community works
because the payment by the VDC is comparable lower.
Another nega� ve eff ect is the rising rates of air-cargo to Mugu; due to
food assistance the demand for air-transporta� on increases, which translates
into higher rates per kilo air cargo, making it diffi cult for local traders to bring
goods at an achievable rate to the market. This also resulted in increased
Changing paradigms of aid eff ec� veness in Nepal 151