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Cash transfers and women's economic inclusion

Evidence from Zambia










Viberti, F., Daidone, S., Pace, N. and Sitko, N. 2022. Cash transfers and women's economic inclusion Evidence from Zambia: Policy brief. Rome, FAO. 



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    Cash transfers and women's economic inclusion
    Experimental evidence from Zambia
    2021
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    This paper investigates whether an increase in exogenous income through the Child Grants model of the Social Cash Transfer programme in Zambia fosters economic inclusion among rural women. We conceptualize economic inclusion as a transformative process comprised of four pillars: productive capacity, financial inclusion, social power, and psychological assets. Using experimental data, we find strong evidence of direct impacts of the Child Grant on the productive capacity, financial inclusion, and psychological assets of rural women. In addition to these direct impacts, we implement a mediation analysis to explore the potential mediating role of psychological assets in affecting the other pillars of economic inclusion. Through this approach, we find indicative evidence of indirect and mutually reinforcing relationships between changes in psychological assets brought about through the Child Grant and improvements in the productive capacity and financial inclusion of beneficiaries. Such results suggest that cash transfers might be effective in promoting women’s economic inclusion, both through the direct monetary effect and through the mediated effect of psychological assets.
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    Overcoming hunger and rural poverty
    Brazilian experiences
    2017
    Brazil has a long tradition of public policies and efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty. The right to food is enshrined in Amendment No. 64/2010 of Brazil’s Constitution as an obligation of the State, and the country has a very progressive food security law that institutionalizes the policy and lays the foundations for broad-based social participation in priority setting, expressed in the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA). It was this wealth of experience (reflected in programmes and plans such as Zero Hunger, Bolsa Família and Brazil Without Extreme Poverty, applied nationwide from 2003 to 2013), together with other factors, that took the country off the Hunger Map in 2014. This report is designed to update the information and describe concrete Brazilian initiatives to facilitate South-South cooperation to a wider audience, including policymakers working to improve food security and fight poverty. In other words, it is a manual of good practice for public au thorities, technical personnel, NGOs and the general public in other Latin American, Caribbean and African countries.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    The Impact of Cash Transfers on the Economic Advancement, Decision-Making and Capacity of Women 2015
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    Cash transfers (CTs) are important poverty reduction schemes, which are present in more than fifty countries (World Bank, 2014a). Their main goal is economic growth rather than the economic empowerment of their beneficiaries – who are usually ultra-poor people; however, evidence of their development impacts is contributing to a shift in how policy-makers perceive these programmes. In many countries, the majority of CT beneficiaries are poor and vulnerable women. As a result, it is often claime d that CTs have an empowering effect on women based on the assumption that, as the main recipients of the transfers, women gain greater control over financial resources. Nevertheless, available evidence on empowerment outcomes is far from being conclusive, particularly as to whether CTs actually improve women’s bargaining power and decision-making in the household.

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