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Cash for Women’s Empowerment? A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the Government of Zambia’s Child Grant Programme

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Listed:
  • Juan Bonilla
  • Rosa Castro Zarzur
  • Sudhanshu Handa
  • Claire Nowlin
  • Amber Peterman
  • Hannah Ring
  • David Seidenfeld

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of the Government of Zambia’s Child Grant Programme, a poverty-targeted, unconditional transfer given to mothers or primary caregivers of young children aged 0 to 5. Qualitatively, we found that changes in intrahousehold relationships were limited by entrenched gender norms, which indicate men as heads of household and primary decision-makers. However, women’s narratives showed the transfer did increase overall household well-being because they felt increased financial empowerment and were able to retain control over transfers for household investment and savings for emergencies. The study found that women in beneficiary households were making more sole and joint decisions, although impacts translated into relatively modest increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Bonilla & Rosa Castro Zarzur & Sudhanshu Handa & Claire Nowlin & Amber Peterman & Hannah Ring & David Seidenfeld, 2016. "Cash for Women’s Empowerment? A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the Government of Zambia’s Child Grant Programme," Papers inwopa796, Innocenti Working Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa796
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    9. Davis, Benjamin & Handa, Sudhanshu & Hypher, Nicola & Winder Rossi, Natalia & Winters, Paul & Yablon (ed.), 2016. "From Evidence to Action: The Story of Cash Transfers and Impact Evaluation in Sub Saharan Africa," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198769446, Decembrie.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sudhanshu Handa & Silvio Daidone & Amber Peterman & Benjamin Davis & Audrey Pereira & Tia Palermo & Jennifer Yablonski, 2018. "Myth-Busting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers as a Poverty Reduction Strategy in Africa," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 259-298.
    2. Abiola John Asaleye & Kariena Strydom, 2023. "Promoting Women’s Empowerment: Linkages Between Financial Development, Employment and Economic Growth in Selected African Economies," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, October.
    3. Peterman, Amber & Schwab, Benjamin & Roy, Shalini & Hidrobo, Melissa & Gilligan, Daniel O., 2021. "Measuring women’s decisionmaking: Indicator choice and survey design experiments from cash and food transfer evaluations in Ecuador, Uganda and Yemen," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. LeRoux-Rutledge, Emily, 2020. "Re-evaluating the “traditional”: How the South Sudanese use established gender narratives to advance women’s equality and empowerment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Henk Hulshof, 2019. "Child participation in evaluating social protection projects: Do global development actors walk the talk?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 19(1), pages 1-20, January.
    6. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.
    7. Corradini, Viola & Buccione, Giulia, 2023. "Unilateral divorce rights, domestic violence and women’s agency: Evidence from the Egyptian Khul reform," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    8. Francesco Burchi & Margherita Scarlato & Giorgio d'Agostino, 2018. "Addressing Food Insecurity in Sub‐Saharan Africa: The Role of Cash Transfers," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 564-589, December.
    9. Jinnat Ara & Dipanwita Sarkar, 2021. "Customized Credit Transfer and Women Empowerment: Evidence from Randomized Controlled Trials in Bangladesh," QuBE Working Papers 062, QUT Business School.
    10. Seymour, Greg & Peterman, Amber, 2018. "Context and measurement: An analysis of the relationship between intrahousehold decision making and autonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 97-112.
    11. Pandey, Vivek & Nagarajan, Hari K. & Kumar, Deepak, 2021. "Impact of Gendered Participation in market-linked value-chains on Economic Outcomes: Evidence from India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    12. Fouksman, E. & Klein, E., 2019. "Radical transformation or technological intervention? Two paths for universal basic income," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 492-500.
    13. Reitmann, Ann-Kristin & Goedhuys, Micheline & Grimm, Michael & Nillesen, Eleonora E.M., 2019. "Measuring attitudes on gender equality and domestic violence in the Arab context : The role of framing, priming and interviewer effects," MERIT Working Papers 2019-027, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    14. Harris-Fry, Helen & Saville, Naomi M. & Paudel, Puskar & Manandhar, Dharma S. & Cortina-Borja, Mario & Skordis, Jolene, 2022. "Relative power: Explaining the effects of food and cash transfers on allocative behaviour in rural Nepalese households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    15. Owusu-Addo, Ebenezer & Renzaho, Andre M.N. & Smith, Ben J., 2020. "Developing a middle-range theory to explain how cash transfers work to tackle the social determinants of health: A realist case study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    16. Justine Briaux & Yves Martin-Prevel & Sophie Carles & Sandra Fortin & Yves Kameli & L. Adubra & A. Renk & Y. Agboka & M. Romedenne & F. Mukantambara & J. van Dyck & J. Boko & Renaud Becquet & M. Savy, 2020. "Evaluation of an unconditional cash transfer program targeting children's first-1,000-days linear growth in rural Togo: A cluster-randomized controlled trial," Post-Print hal-03165338, HAL.
    17. Etienne Lwamba & Shannon Shisler & Will Ridlehoover & Meital Kupfer & Nkululeko Tshabalala & Promise Nduku & Laurenz Langer & Sean Grant & Ada Sonnenfeld & Daniela Anda & John Eyers & Birte Snilstveit, 2022. "Strengthening women's empowerment and gender equality in fragile contexts towards peaceful and inclusive societies: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), March.
    18. Laszlo, Sonia & Grantham, Kate & Oskay, Ecem & Zhang, Tingting, 2020. "Grappling with the challenges of measuring women's economic empowerment in intrahousehold settings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    19. Chloé van Biljon & Dieter von Fintel & Atika Pasha, 2018. "Bargaining to work: the effect of female autonomy on female labour supply," Working Papers 04/2018, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cash transfers; decision making; household income; women's empowerment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior

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