BIG Pilot Project - Assessment Report - BIG Coalition Namibia

2.9 Hunger and malnutrition0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5-4 -2 0 2 4xNov 2007 Jun 2008Nov 2008WHO normalGraph 2.9-1: Weight for age z-sores according to WHO standard -before and after BIG (for children in households without significantin-migration)The dotted green line represents the WHO expectednormal distribution of weight for age. The red line depictsthe nutritional status of the children before theintroduction of the BIG, with 42% malnutrition. Thedashed-dotted blue line confirms the direct and dramaticimpact the introduction of the BIG had on malnutritiondropping to 17% within just six months. Thesolid blue line represents the nutritional status of childrenby November 2008 with malnutrition droppingeven further to 10%. It is clear that the major shift indistribution happened in the first six months after theBIG was introduced. The one year results confirm andreinforce this hugely positive trend. To reiterate, withthe BIG, the malnutrition rate decreased from 42% inNovember 2007 to only 10% a year later. This is an extraordinarydevelopmental achievement; to see thatchild nutrition is directly and dramatically improved bygiving this small universal cash grant to poor families.With theBIG, themalnutritionrate decreasedfrom 42% inNovember2007 to17% withinsix months,down to only10% after ayear later!55