Women’s economic capacity and children’s human capital accumulation

Central America

Nicaragua

Labour Market

Business training and capital transfer

J de Hoop, P Premand, F Rosati, R Vakis

2018

de Hoop, Jacobus, et al. “Women’s Economic Capacity and Children’s Human Capital Accumulation.” Journal of Population Economics 31.2 (2017): 453–481. Web.
View publication

N. A.

2018

Productive transfer program funded by NGO Fundación Mujer y Desarrollo Comunitario and implemented with the World Bank.

July/2009-August/2011

Two objectives: (i) to facilitate income generation and diversification by promoting women’s economic activities and (ii) to foster gender empowerment by improving women’s aspirations, their participation in households’ economic decisions, as well as their social participation.

Households with a female member between the ages of 16 and 60.

The program offered households with at least one female member 16 to 60 years old a package of benefits that included (i) training on community organization and gender awareness, (ii) training in technical or business skills to develop or expand small-scale household enterprises, livestock, or agricultural activities of their choice, (iii) capital transfers in the form of cash, seeds, or livestock, and (iv) follow-up technical assistance. The exact mix of capital transfers, training, and technical assistance was adjusted depending on the type of activity that each beneficiary wished to start or to expand non-agricultural household enterprises, livestock, or other small-scale agricultural activities. The program included three main phases. First, beneficiaries were offered various training workshops on community organization and gender awareness. The community organization training included four modules for all beneficiaries on how to form and organize women’s groups as well as two additional modules for selected leaders on managing women’s groups. The gender awareness training was offered to all beneficiaries and included eight modules on issues such as gender identity, self-esteem, reproductive health, violence, and laws that protect women. Training was delivered in the community. In addition, a gender awareness training targeted a small number of selected men, usually leaders’ spouses, who were trained together in a central location on a subset of the aforementioned themes. Second, beneficiaries were offered training in technical or business skills to develop or expand small-scale household enterprises, livestock, or agricultural activities of their choice. Each beneficiary was offered between four and six training sessions. The scope of the training depended on the activity chosen by individuals. It focused on technical skills and crop management for individuals who chose agricultural activities. It tackled livestock management and related technical skills for individuals who chose livestock activities. Also, it covered basic business skills for individuals who chose small business activities. Third beneficiaries received capital transfers in the form of cash, seeds, or livestock. After the transfers, follow-up technical assistance visits were organized. The package had an average value of US$602 per beneficiary (the exact value depending on the type of activity being supported). It included US$316 indirect capital transfers (in the form of a mix of cash, seeds, and livestock) and US$286 that covered the costs of training and technical assistance. There is not much detail on how this technical assistance was led, or who provided it.

• School Attendance
• Child labor. Three kinds of work: agricultural activities, livestock and non-agricultural activities for own account, and wage work.
• Household chores (limited follow-up).

Clustered Randomized Trial

Study design: public lottery to allocate the communities to the treatment and control groups. The selection of communities was based on block randomization within ten groups of up to three neighboring communities.
Sample: 24 communities were selected based on five criteria: (i) located in a rural area, (ii) should not have benefitted from related interventions, (iii) contain a minimum of 20 households, (iv) located in an area that was well-known to the local NGO, and (v) the local authorities had to agree with the implementation of the program. Total: 647 households, with 1923 adults and 1458 children in the relevant age range (6 to 15 years old). The sample was restricted to households with children aged 6 to 15 at baseline (8 to 17 at follow-up). This gave a sample of 647 households that applied to participate in the program, with 1923 adults and 1458 children in the relevant age range. Over 95% of these households were observed at follow-up. Because individuals were not tracked if they had left the household, the probability that individuals are observed at follow-up is somewhat lower: about 87% for adults and about 91% for children.
Survey instrument: baseline, follow-up. The relatively concise baseline questionnaire included questions on household and dwelling characteristics, household composition, and several household and individual socioeconomic characteristics. For individuals aged 6 years or more, the baseline survey collected information on completed education, school enrollment, school attendance, and involvement in economic activities in the week preceding the survey. The follow-up survey was more extensive than the baseline survey. In addition to the questions from the baseline survey, it also collected information on a wider range of outcomes including involvement in economic activities in the 12 months before the interview.

Increase in child school attendance, a decrease in children working (including in household chores). The modest shift away from agricultural work and towards livestock and non-agricultural self-employment activities was observed among children.

Child Labour

Households

Local

There has been a decrease in children working, including in household chores, in response to a capital and training program in Nicaragua. Also, there has been a modest shift away from agricultural work and towards livestock and non-agricultural self-employment activities among children.

The capital and training program in Nicaragua also increased school attendance.

One limitation of the study is that we cannot exclude the possibility that the observed changes in women’s decision-making related to children are in part driven by Hawthorne effects, but the results are consistent with the literature on intra-household decision making and gender empowerment.