Evaluation report
The Economic Lives of Young Women in the Time of Ebola : Lessons from an Empowerment Program
·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5The report evaluates an empowerment program in Sierra Leone that offers young women a club as a protective space, with support, health and reproductive information, and vocational training. The 2014 Ebola outbreak happened after the baseline survey, so the authors followed 4,700 women through the crisis. In control villages with heavy disruption, younger girls spent more time with men, out-of-wedlock pregnancies rose, and school enrolment fell. In villages with the program, these harms were almost entirely reversed. Some older girls in program villages used transactional sex to cope, but increased contraceptive use meant this did not lead to higher fertility.
Key points
- About 4,700 women were tracked through the Ebola crisis.
- In highly disrupted control villages, younger girls spent significantly more time with men and out-of-wedlock pregnancies rose.
- In control villages, school enrolment dropped by 16 percentage points after the crisis, and the drop persisted.
- In treated villages these adverse effects were almost entirely reversed, because girls spent less time with men, avoided out-of-wedlock pregnancies and re-enrolled in school.
- In treated villages some older girls used transactional sex as a coping strategy, but higher contraceptive use meant it did not raise fertility.
Limitations
The abstract does not say how villages were assigned to treatment or control, or how the outcomes were measured. It gives few numbers beyond the 16 percentage point enrolment drop and says nothing on long-term effects or effects outside Sierra Leone.
Abstract
The authors evaluate an intervention to raise young women’s economic empowerment in Sierra Leone, where women frequently experience sexual violence and face multiple economic disadvantages. The intervention provides them with a protective space (a club) where they can find support, receive information on health or reproductive issues and vocational training. Unexpectedly, the post-baseline period coincided with the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Our analysis documents the impact of the Ebola outbreak on the economic lives of 4,700 women tracked over the crisis, and any ameliorating role played by the intervention. In highly disrupted control villages, the crisis leads younger girls to spend significantly more time with men, out-of-wedlock pregnancies rise, and as a result, they experience a persistent 16pp drop in school enrolment post-crisis. These adverse effects are almost entirely reversed in treated villages because the intervention enables young girls to allocate time away from men, preventing out-of-wedlock pregnancies and enabling them to re-enroll in school post-crisis. In treated villages, the unavailability of young women leads some older girls to use transactional sex as a coping strategy. The intervention causes them to increase contraceptive use so this does not translate into higher fertility. (Africa)
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- A club providing a protective space with support, information on health and reproductive issues, and vocational training.
- Population
- About 4,700 young women and girls in villages in Sierra Leone, tracked before and through the Ebola crisis.
Key finding
In highly disrupted control villages, younger girls spent more time with men, out-of-wedlock pregnancies rose, and school enrolment fell persistently by 16 percentage points.
World Bank documents and reports · 1 Dec 2018