Aid for Gender Equality: What Works and Examples from the World

Bank Adolescent Girls Initiative

Caren Grown

Senior Director for Gender

Presentation Based on Two Recent Reports

Paper Prepared for UNU-WIDER, ReCom, June 2014 World Bank, 2014

Aid Effectiveness

• Aidscape has witnessed a paradigm shift in last decade

• Growing pressure on donors and recipient governments to demonstrate effectiveness of aid

• Criticisms on the impact of aid on economic development – analysts and activists on both sides…

– Three analytical camps: aid works; does not work; works conditionally

• Murky empirical evidence at the macro level; more encouraging at the micro level (micro-macro paradox)

Aid and Gender Equality

…investing in women is not only the right thing to do. It is the smart thing to do. I am deeply convinced that, in women, the world has at its disposal, the most significant and yet largely untapped potential for development and peace. Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, 8 March 2008

Motivation for Donor Investments in Gender Equality

FAO

World Bank

Gender Equality ↔ Economic Growth

Donor Approaches

• A “twin-track” approach

– Women-focused projects/interventions

– “Gender Mainstreaming,” notably in

• Health

• Education

• Microfinance

• Agriculture (to a lesser extent)

• Governance (to a lesser extent except in fragile states)

Gender-Focused Aid as a Share of Total Aid, Constant 2011 US$

Overall Donors Commitment Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (Millions in Constant 2011 US$)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Gender-focused education aid as a percent of total education aid (constant 2011 US$)

Evidence for Aid Effectiveness and Gender Equality: Macro Studies

– Aid generally has a positive (but modest) impact on gender equality.

– Is aid for gender equality need-based or performance based?

• Dreher et al. (2013): Gender gaps in education and health affect the allocation of aid overall and in the relevant sectors.

What works and could work? (No one size fits all)

Education

• Conditional cash transfers

• Scholarships for girls

Health

• Maternal mortality: skilled attendants, emergency, obstetric care, functional referral system

• Reproductive Health: contraceptives; sexuality education, safe abortion services

What works and could work, cont.

Economic

• Microcredit/microenterprise – Mixed effects at level of

individual (hh decision-making) and enterprise (profits, growth)

• Microsavings is most promising

• Wage Employment

• Asset Transfers

Political

• Quotas/reservations for entry

• Gender-budgeting

What works and could work, cont.

Preventing/responding to Gender-Based Violence

• Prevention: Women’s advocacy; community-based interventions; male leader campaigns

• Response: One stop shops that combine multi-sectoral interventions (judicial and health)

• Community-based interventions

In Fragile States

• Conflict prevention: early warning

• Post-conflict: Organizing/training for participation in donor conferences

• Interventions for political participation

• Livelihood programs

The World Bank’s Adolescent Girls Initiative

• Large youth populations, high overall unemployment - young women less likely to be employed despite gains in education

• Young women face multi-barriers to labor market entry

• Adolescence a critical stage in life to intervene

The Approach

• Global set of pilots for young women - what works best in programming to help adolescent girls and young women succeed in the labor market?

• Each program is individually tailored to the country context, with varying emphasis on vocational training and empowerment/life skills

• 6 out of 8 have rigorous impact evaluations

Two Basic Project Models

1. “TVET” Classroom-based training. Training for employment or entrepreneurship, complemented with life skills training. Pilots included placement services and outreach with the private sector.

– Liberia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Haiti, Rwanda

2. Girls clubs. Provides girls with a ‘safe space’ in the community to socialize and learn. Emphasize life skills, which are complemented with vocational and/or entrepreneurship training, as well as access to financial services.

– South Sudan, Uganda*, and Tanzania*

Did it work?

• Large impacts on employment and earnings (Liberia, Nepal, and Uganda)

• Mixed empowerment impacts – Liberia no impact on SRH; positive impact

on self-confidence

– Nepal: no impact on fertility or self-confidence

– Uganda: large impacts SRH

• Combination of life and vocational skills works– getting the right mix depends on context

Capstone and Toolkit Objectives

Capstone: to provide evidence to support the expansion of skills training programs that facilitate the economic empowerment of young women. Toolkit: to improve the design and implementation of youth employment projects based on lessons learned from the AGI.

Collaboration opportunity: Dissemination scheduled for Spring 2015