David Seidenfeld

Senior Vice President, International Development Division

David Seidenfeld is a senior vice president and leads AIR's International Development Division, overseeing a portfolio of more than 50 active research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects in low- and middle-income countries around the globe. He also oversees AIR’s Technology Solutions and data science practices and is the executive liaison for the company’s Institutional Review Board. He is currently serving as the interim leader of AIR’s Human Services Division, which includes research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects across a wide array of topics, such as education, workforce, and youth, family, and community development.

Dr. Seidenfeld has extensive experience designing and implementing evaluations of economic, health, and education programs. His own research focuses primarily on social protection and cash transfer programs, child nutrition, and refugee populations.

Dr. Seidenfeld has designed and led evaluations of more than 10 cash transfer programs in low- and middle-income countries including five randomized controlled trials (RCT). These studies include two RCTs in Zambia that generated evidence to support the government’s decision to scale up a national cash transfer program and was named best UNICEF Research study in 2014. He also led two evaluations on cash transfers for Syrian refugees in Turkey and Lebanon, and several cash transfer studies for child nutrition in Mozambique and Madagascar. Dr. Seidenfeld has published articles in peer-reviewed journals based on these studies, including in the Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Development Effectiveness, Health Economics, and more.

In addition to his work with AIR, Dr. Seidenfeld co-founded and supports the Impact Network, an independent non-profit that brings eLearning and wrap-around services to 45 rural schools in Zambia as well as girls support programs and children’s health programs.

Ph.D., Education Policy, University of Pennsylvania; M.A., International and Comparative Education, Stanford University; B.A., Economics and Philosophy, Cornell University

Contact David Seidenfeld

+1.202.403.5000

Although the number of refugee children enrolled in school in Turkey has increased significantly in recent years, a number of obstacles mean nearly 40 percent of Syrian children living in Turkey remain out of school. UNICEF Turkey contracted with AIR to conduct a rigorous program evaluation of the Conditional Cash ...

Evaluation of No Lost Generation/“Min Ila,” a UNICEF and WFP Cash Transfer Program for Displaced Syrian Children in Lebanon

30 Jun 2018

Lebanon hosts 1.5 million Syrians who have fled conflict in Syria, as well as 34,000 Palestine refugees from Syria. Over half of the school-aged children in this population are not enrolled in a certified education program. AIR designed and implemented an impact evaluation of the No Lost Generation ("Min/Ila") child-focused ...

Image of Syrian boy riding a bicycle in a refugee camp

No Lost Generation: Supporting the School Participation of Displaced Syrian Children in Lebanon

10 Jun 2018

As a result of the Syrian conflict, Lebanon has one of the highest per capita ratios of registered refugees in the world. Despite efforts by the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education and its partners, approximately half the Syrian children of primary school age in Lebanon did not attend ...

Evaluation of Zambia’s First 1,000 Most Critical Days Program: Final Report

30 May 2018

The First 1,000 Most Critical Days Program was designed to offer mothers and babies in Zambia a suite of interventions to improve their health and development. This report is the result of an evaluation of the efficacy of this program.

Does Money Buy Happiness? Evidence from an Unconditional Cash Transfer in Zambia

06 Feb 2018

The relationship between happiness and income has been at the center of a vibrant debate, as emotional states are an important determinant of health and social behavior. This study investigated whether a government-run unconditional cash transfer paid directly to women in poor households had an impact on self-reported happiness. ...

Impact Evaluation of Fiavota Phase 1 Emergency and Recovery Cash Transfer in Madagascar

Due to the El Niño weather phenomenon, rainfall in southern Madagascar became so sparse that the Malagasy government declared a state of emergency in September 2016. AIR conducted an ex-post, quasi-experimental evaluation of the Fiavota cash transfer which investigated how the program affected households and children. ...

Min Ila: Summary of Education Results After the First Few Months of Implementation

12 May 2017

Most Syrian refugees in Lebanon have arrived with limited savings and have struggled to earn steady incomes to meet their families’ basic needs, such as food, health care, and shelter. This sudden influx has created an education crisis in Lebanon that affects Syrian and vulnerable Lebanese children. The Min Ila ...

Impact Evaluation of the No Lost Generation/Min Ila Cash Transfer Program for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

The sudden influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon created an education crisis in Lebanon that affects Syrian and vulnerable Lebanese children. AIR and the UNICEF Office of Research–Innocenti are leading an independent impact evaluation of Min Ila, a cash transfer program for displaced Syrian children in the governorates of Mount ...

Can Unconditional Cash Transfers Lead to Sustainable Poverty Reduction? Evidence from Two Government-Led Programmes in Zambia

31 Aug 2016

In sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region in the world, the number of cash transfer programs has doubled in the last five years and reaches close to 50 million people. This paper examines the impact of these programs and the extent to which they offer a sustained pathway out of ultra-poverty.

Unconditional Government Social Cash Transfer in Africa Does Not Increase Fertility

29 Apr 2016

Among policymakers, a common perception surrounding the effects of cash transfer programmes, particularly unconditional programmes targeted to families with children, is that they induce increased fertility. We evaluate the Zambian Child Grant Programme, a government unconditional cash transfer targeted to families with a child under the age of 5 and ...

Zambia’s Multiple Category Targeting Grant: 36-Month Impact Report

28 Feb 2016

In 2010, the government of the Republic of Zambia implemented the Child Grant cash transfer program, the results of which offer evidence that small-scale cash transfers to poor rural households with young children can stimulate economic activity while alleviating poverty. Building on this, in 2011, the Zambian government—through the Ministry ...

Zambia's Child Grant Program: 48-Month Impact Report

30 Jan 2016

Zambia’s Child Grant cash transfer program provides grants directly to poor households with children under five years old. A four-year study shows that this unconditional cash transfer has proven to be an effective approach to alleviating extreme poverty and empowering households to improve their standard of living in a way ...

Cash for Women's Empowerment? A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Government of Zambia's Child Grant Programme

30 Jan 2016

Despite the promise and potential of cash transfers to empower women, the evidence supporting this outcome is mixed. This paper based on an evaluation of the Government of Zambia’s Child Grant Programme, a transfer given to mothers or primary caregivers of young children aged 0 to 5, shows there is ...

The Economics of Improving Lives: Cash Transfers in Zambia

28 Jul 2015

How can we curtail extreme poverty? It’s a question weighing on governments around the world. In the Republic of Zambia, the answer is one household at a time. The Child Grant program supported the country's lowest-income households and demonstrated a number of successes after three years, including increased food consumption ...

Process Evaluation of Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Programme

01 Dec 2014

Cash transfers empower the beneficiary households to increase their consumption to a level which exceeds the food poverty line, reduce child labor, increase school enrolment and attendance, and access basic social services. Zimbabwe's HSCT program provides cash to the most vulnerable households across the country, targeting labor-constrained households that are ...

12 Month Impact Report for the Evaluation of Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Programme

01 Dec 2014

Cash transfers empower the beneficiary households to increase their consumption to a level which exceeds the food poverty line, reduce child labor, increase school enrolment and attendance, and access basic social services. After only 12 months (representing 6 payments), the HSCT contributed to improving consumption and food security among smaller ...

Zambia’s Multiple Category Targeting Grant: 24-Month Impact Report

01 Dec 2014

Zambia’s Child Grant Program: 30-Month Impact Report

01 Dec 2014

A cash grant program for households with children under five in three districts in Zambia generated positive impacts, both in terms of immediate needs of the family and children's health, and in longer term productivity. This second report builds upon the results of the 24-month report.

Zambia’s Child Grant Program: 36-Month Impact Report

01 Dec 2014

A cash grant program for households with children under five in three districts in Zambia generated positive impacts, both in terms of immediate needs of the family and children's health, and in longer term productivity. This third report builds upon the results of the 24- and 30-month reports.

Zambia’s Multiple Category Cash Transfer Program: Baseline Report

13 Oct 2014

In 2011, Zambia’s Ministry of Community Development, Women and Child Health (MCDMCH) began implementing the Multiple Categorical cash transfer program in two districts. An impact evaluation with experimental design accompanied the program in order to learn its effects on recipients and provide evidence for making decisions about the future of ...

Estimating the Elasticity of Demand for Condoms in Rural Africa

Aid agencies spend over $800 million a year on education programs increasing the demands for condoms for the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections by promoting and teaching their proper use. Yet condom use is very low in many parts of the developing world, especially in rural areas. ...

Zambia’s Child Grant Program: 24-Month Impact Report

12 Nov 2013

A Child Grant cash grant program for households with children under five in three districts in Zambia generated positive impacts, both in terms of immediate needs of the family and children's health, and in longer term productivity.

Zambia’s Child Grant Program: Baseline Report

28 Nov 2011

In 2010, Zambia’s Ministry of Community Development and Social Services began implementing the Child Grant cash transfer program in three districts. An impact evaluation with experimental design accompanied the program in order to learn its effects on recipients and provide evidence for making decisions about the future of the program. ...

AIR in the News

05 Mar 2018

SocialProtection.org

The Effect of Cash Transfers and Household Vulnerability on Food Security in Zimbabwe

09 Feb 2018

Science Direct