Dean Yang is the feature of a November 30 interview with Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access (AMA) at the University of California, Davis.
The “Q&A with Professor Dean Yang” centers on an evaluation Yang is conducting of a new socioeconomic intervention program in Mozambique for orphans and vulnerable children.
The program includes interrelated interventions, many targeted toward health care and education for vulnerable children and caregivers. Other aspects include starting formal village savings and loan programs to improve socioeconomic outcomes for vulnerable households.
The intervention program, Força à Comunidade e Crianças (FCC), or Strength to Community and Children, is supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the AMA Innovation Lab. It began in late 2015 and will run for five years.
Yang’s task is to evaluate “whether the FCC program will produce a positive impact on the outcomes of orphans and vulnerable children.” He also hopes to determine the extent to which the program affects health care utilization and household ability to cope with economic shocks from health problems or severe weather.
For more information on the program, visit the project page here.
Dean Yang, a professor of public policy and economics, focuses on the economic problems of developing countries. His areas of emphasis include international migration, microfinance, health, corruption, and the economics of disasters.