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enGENDER IMPACT: Boosting Voice and Agency


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The World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality and Development recognized that expanding women's agency is critical for improving the lives of women, their households and their communities. It is a central component of gender equality, alongside increasing human and physical endowments and expanding economic opportunities.

Voice is having a say in the processes that affect one’s life and environment.

Agency is the ability to make choices to achieve desired outcomes.

Expanding women’s voice and agency in many life domains is critical to ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. Learn more about the World Bank’s new report on Women’s Voice, Agency and Participation and see examples of work in promoting collective action through Community-Driven Development.


Relevant outcomes: decision-making over family formation, participation or having a voice in community or societal activities, women’s representation in political institutions, aspirations, motivation, psychological agency, gender norms


IE Title & Author(s)

Country

Gender Outcome(s)

Intervention Category

Alternative Cash Transfer Delivery Mechanisms: Impacts on Routine Preventative Health Clinic Visits in Burkina Faso
Akresh, et al.

Burkina Faso

Use of healthcare services, Intrahousehold Bargaining

Cash Transfer

Are Cash Transfers Made to Women Spent Like Other Sources of Income?
Schady & Rosero

Ecuador

Nutrition, intrahousehold bargaining, consumption

Cash Transfer

Are Rural Road Investments Alone Sufficient to Generate Transport Flows? Lessons from a Randomized Experiment in Rural Malawi and Policy Implications
Raballand, et al.

Malawi

Gender disaggregated participation or voice in community

Infrastructure

ARV Treatment and Time Allocation to Household Tasks: Evidence from Kenya
d'Adda, et al.

Kenya

Intrahousehold bargaining, reproductive health, women's access to healthcare

Antiretroviral Treatment

Building Women's Economic and Social Empowerment Through Enterprise An Experimental Assessment of the Women's Income Generating Support (WINGS) Program in Uganda
Blattman, et al.

Uganda

Gender disaggregated earnings, savings, consumption, psychological agency, domestic violence

Cash Transfer

Cash or Condition Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment
Baird, et al.

Malawi

Female school attainment, cognitive skills, decision making over family formation

Cash Transfer

Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
Macours, et al.

Nicaragua

Children's Nutrition, access to healthcare, cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, Women's labor force participation, psychological agency

Cash Transfer

Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
Macours, et al.

Nicaragua

Boys and girls health, nutrition, non-cognitive skills

Cash Transfer, Training

Causal effect of health on labor market outcomes: Evidence from a random assignment iron supplementation intervention
Thomas, et al.

Indonesia

Gender disaggregated nutrition, psychological agency, labor force participation, productivity

Iron Supplements

Changing Households' Investment and Aspirations through Social Interactions: Evidence from a randomized transfer program
Macours & Vakis

Nicaragua

Women's Aspirations, motivation, school attendance, income, property

Cash Transfer

Community Programs and Women's Participation: The Chinese Experience
Coady, et al.

China

Gender disaggregated income, aspirations

Collective Action

Community-Based Reintegration in Aceh: Assessing the Impacts of BRA-KDP
Barron, et al.

Indonesia

Income, participation and voice in the community

Community Driven Development

Community-Driven Reconstruction in Lofa County Impact Assessment
Fearon, et al.

Liberia

Participation and voice in community, income

Community Driven Development

Conditional Cash Transfers, Political Participation, and Voting Behavior
Baez, et al.

Colombia

Female participation or voice in community

Cash Transfer

Controlled Trial of Psychotherapy for Congolese Survivors of Sexual Violence
Bass, et al.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Mental or physical consequences of GBV, psychological agency

Psychological Treatment

Credit Constraints, Occupational Choice and the Process of Development: Long Run Evidence from Cash Transfers in Uganda
Blattman, et al.

Uganda

Vocational knowledge or skills, labor force participation, productivity, participation or voice in community

Cash Transfer

Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia
Olken

Indonesia

Participation or voice in community, women's representation in politics

Community Driven Development

Direct Democracy and Resource Allocation Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan
Beath, et al.

Afghanistan

Women's participation or voice in community, psychological agency

Political Participation

Does a Picture Paint a Thousand Words? Evidence from a Microcredit Marketing Experiment
Gine, et al.

Pakistan

Gender disaggregated access to credit, psychological agency

Microfinance, information intervention

Does Cash for School Influence Young Women's Behavior in the Longer Term? Evidence from Pakistan
Alam, et al.

Pakistan

Girls school attainment, labor force participation, child labor, decision making over family formation

Cash Transfer

Does Community Driven Development Work? Evidence from Senegal
Arcand & Bassole

Senegal

Health of women, nutrition, consumption, participation or having a voice in the community

Community Driven Development

Does Information Improve School Accountability? Results of a Large Randomized Trial
Pandey, et al.

India

Women's participation or voice in the community

Information Intervention, school management

Does Money Matter? The Effects of Cash Transfers on Child Health and Development in Rural Ecuador
Paxson & Schady

Ecuador

Gender disaggregated cognitive skills, non-cognitive skill, psychological agency

Cash Transfer

Economic and Social Impacts of Self-Help Groups in India
Seininger & Liu

India

Female nutrition, consumption, psychological agency, participation or voice in community

Community Driven Development

Employment Generation In Rural Africa: Mid-Term Results from an Experimental Evaluation of the Youth Opportunities Program in Northern Uganda
Blattman, et al.

Uganda

Gender disaggregated income, consumption, labor force participation, participation or voice in community, psychological agency

Cash Transfer

Empowering Adolescent Girls: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Uganda
Behrman, et al.

Uganda

Girls vocational knowledge or skills, labor force participation, psychological agency, reproductive health, sexual abuse or harassment

Training, Cash Transfer

Empowering Women: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan
Beath, et al.

Afghanistan

Female participation or voice in community, decision making over family formation

Community Driven Development

Entrepreneurship Training and Self-Employment among University Graduates Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Tunisia
Premand, et al.

Tunisia

Gender disaggregated outcomes: entrepreneurship, labor force participation, vocational knowledge or skills, access to credit, aspirations, non-cognitive skills

Training

Fertility Responses to Urban Land Titling Programs: The Roles of Ownership Security and the Distribution of Household Assets
Field

Peru

Decision making over family formation

Land Titling

From the Group Up: Impacts of a Pro-Poor Community Driven Development Project in Nigeria
Nkonya, et al.

Nigeria

Property, productivity, participation or voice in community

Agricultural Development

Gender Bias in Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from an Unintentional Experiment
Braido, et al.

Brazil

Consumption, intrahousehold decision-making

Cash Transfer

Group Diversity and the Impacts on Female Participants: A Quasi-Experimental Study of Income Generating Networks in India
Koolwal

India

Savings, access to credit, intrahousehold decision making

Community Development

How to Promote Order and Property Rights Under Weak Rule of Law? An Experiment in Changing Dispute Resolution Behavior Through Community Education
Blattman, et al.

Liberia

Participation or voice in community

Conflict Resolution

Impact of Social Fund on the Welfare of Rural Households: Evidence from Nepal Poverty Alleviation Fund
Parajuli, et al.

Nepal

Participation or voice in the community, consumption

Community Driven Development

Incentives to Learn
Kremer, et al.

Kenya

School performance, motivation

Cash Transfer

Income Shocks and Adolescent Mental Health
Baird, et al.

Malawi

Psychological agency

Conditional Cash Transfers

Information, Role Models and Perceived Returns to Education Experimental Evidence from Madagascar
Nguyen

Madagascar

School Achievement, School Attendance, Aspirations

Information Intervention

Measuring the Effect of a Community-level Program on Women's Empowerment Outcomes: Evidence from India
Kandpal, et al.

India

Female labor force participation, intrahousehold bargaining, participation or voice in community

Community Development

Migration and mental health: Evidence from a natural experiment
Gibson, et al.

Tonga

Psychological agency

Migration

One-Time Transfers of Cash or Capital Have Long-Lasting Effects on Microenterprises in Sri Lanka
De Mel, et al.

Sri Lanka

Productivity, intrahousehold decision making

Cash Transferl

Outside Funding and the Dynamics of Participation in Community Associations
Gugerty & Kremer

Kenya

Women's participation or voice in community

Community Driven Development

Pitfalls of Participatory Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Education in India
Banerjee, et al.

India

Gender disaggregated school performance

Information Intervention

Power to the People: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment on Community-Based Monitoring in Uganda
Bjorkman & Svensson

Uganda

Health of women and girls, sexual, maternal and reproductive health, participation or having a voice in community or societal activities, motivation

Community Driven Development

Reintegrating and Employing High Risk Youth in Liberia: Lessons from a randomized evaluation of a Landmine Action an agricultural training program for ex-combatants
Blattman & Annan

Liberia

Labor force participation, participation or voice in the community

Training

Reshaping Institutions: Evidence on Aid Impacts Using a Preanalysis Plan
Casey, et al.

Sierra Leone

Participation or voice in community, women's representation in politics, gender norms

Community Driven Development

Sexual Behavior, Change Intentions and Actions in the Context of a Randomized Trial of a Conditional Cash Transfer for HIV Prevention in Tanzania
Packel, et al.

Tanzania

Reproductive health, STDs/STIs, decision making over family formation

Reproductive Health

Soft Skills or Hard Cash? The Impact of Training and Wage Subsidy Programs on Female Youth Employment in Jordan
Groh, et al.

Jordan

Female labor force participation, non-cognitive skills, aspirations, psychological agency

Training, Cash Transfer

Split Decisions: Family Finance When a Policy Discontinuity Allocates Overseas Work
Clemens & Tiongson

Philippines

Gender Disaggregated: consumption, access to healthcare, property, savings, school performance, intrahousehold bargaining

Migration Permits

Targeting the Poor: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia
Alatas, et al.

Indonesia

Participation or voice in community

Cash Transfer

The Impact of Providing Psycho-Social Support to Indigent Families and Increasing their Access to Social Services: Evaluating Chile Solidario
Carneiro, et al.

Chile

Gender disaggregated labor force participation, psychological agency

Social Support

The Promise of Preschool in Africa: A Randomized Impact Evaluation of Early Childhood Development in Rural Mozambique
Martinez, et al.

Mozambique

Gender disaggregated nutrition, Educational enrolment, attainment, performance, literacy and numeracy, non-cognitive skills, women's labor force participation, aspirations

Early Childhood Development

The Short-Term Impacts of a Schooling Conditional Cash Transfer Program on the Sexual Behavior of Young Women
Baird, et al.

Malawi

School enrollment, decision making over family formation, fertility

Cash Transfer

Time Allocation in Rural Households: The Indirect Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs
Hasan

Pakistan

Gender norms, labor force participation

Cash Transfer

Together We Will: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Female Voter Turnout in Pakistan
Gine & Mansuri

Pakistan

Participation or voice in community, women's representation in politics

Political Participation

Two-Name Land Use Certificates and Gender Inequality: An Empirical Investigation for Vietnam
Trung, et al.

Vietnam

Gender disaggregated income, investment, labor force participation, intrahousehold bargaining

Land Titling

Village Savings and Loans Associations, Gender Dialogue Groups, and Gender-Based Violence against Women in Cote d'Ivoire: Findings from a randomized community trial
Gupta, et al.

Cote d'Ivoire

Domestic violence, norms or attitudes towards GBV, intrahousehold decision making

Support Groups, Training

Vocational Education Voucher Delivery and Labor Market Returns: A Randomized Evaluation Among Kenyan Youth
Hicks, et al.

Kenya

Gender disaggregated vocational training, gender norms

Training

 



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