Giving the benefit to women

The Women Development Initiatives Project (WDIP) helped women organize in groups and start small businesses to improve their socioeconomic outcomes. The evaluation exploits random assignment into WDIP benefits during the early phases of the program to infer the causal impact of WDIP on economic, social, and psychological outcomes using a cross section of 1000 women three years into program implementation.

The evaluation finds that, as compared to the control, WDIP participants earned 100 birr more on average per month (about $11). It also finds that their additional income increased their household bargaining power, and specifically strengthened their ability to make decisions on household purchases.

As a result of their participation in the program, women are less likely to uphold traditional rules that constrain their participation in the workforce and freedom of movement. However, there is no reduction in household violence, perhaps due to the contravening effects of more income and independence and the stress that poses on traditional power relations in the household. Psychologically, the evaluation finds significant effects on happiness over and above those due to the increase in income.

Even when economic gains alone are considered, returns to the project are positive. Given an average group transfer of $4,000 for an average group size of 12 women, and assuming a 40 percent project overhead and that women can sustain this level of economic gains for a period of five years, the internal rate of return for the project is about 15 percent.

What is the impact of female empowerment programs on economic, social, political and psychological outcomes?

• Participanting women earn 100 birr more on average per month than comparison women.

• On a scale of 1-5, participants are 0.7 happier than comparison females.

• Fewer participants (6 percentage points) uphold traditional rules that women should not farm (plough) ride animals and carts, and walk alone than comparison women.

• There is no significant impact of WDIP on domestic violence. The study however finds high correlation of women who chose their husband with decreased household violence.

Impact Evaluation Methods:    Natural experiment, Randomization, Single difference

Evaluation Start Date:   2004   Evaluation End Date:  2004

Evaluators:  Arianna Legovini

Where to Find:  Ch 8 of Empowerment in Practice: From Analysis to Implementation, The World Bank 2006.

Impact Evaluation Design

During the first year of implementation, the project had rationed participation to one group of women per kebele (municipality). To keep the number of participants under 30, kebele officials they had carried out a lottery. The evaluation tracked down the women who had been rationed out using official records and participant recollection, and administered a 1000 household survey to a random sample of participants (treatment) and non-participants (control).

Women Development Initiative Project (WDIP)

The Women Development Initiative Project (WDIP) seeks to redress gender imbalances in development opportunities by investing in women's skills, productivity, and organizational capacity.

The project components include
(a) a demand-driven fund that finances women's group activities, such as grain and spice processing, handicraft production, and the rearing of animals and poultry;
(b) capacity building and training for women's groups and other project stakeholders on organization, facilitation, project design, appraisal, and monitoring and evaluation;
(c) information, education, and communication activities that enhance gender awareness.