大规模支持妇女生计：来自赞比亚多方面妇女经济包容干预的证据

Supporting Women’s Livelihoods at ScalePublic Disclosure Authorized Evidence from a multi-faceted women’s economicinclusion intervention in Zambia Key Messages Thegovernment-implementedSupportingWomen’sLivelihoods (SWL) intervention yielded large and lastingimprovements in welfare outcomes for extremely poorwomen in Zambia. correspondedwith a 30%reduction in extremepoverty. Beyond consumption, the full package alsoboosted household income by 62%, driven by higherbusiness and agricultural profits, and improved foodsecurity, evidenced by a 23% reduction in months ofinsufficient food. »The SWL intervention aims to enhance women’s live-lihoods and economic resilience by providing poorrural womenwith a 21-session life and business skillstraining, six months of group mentoring, a produc-tivity grant of US$225 equivalent, and support to formsavings groups. In addition to examining the impactsof the full package of support, the impact evaluationalso assessed the relative contribution of the differentprogramcomponents,testing a human capital-focused bundle, comprising training and mentorship;and a financial capital-focused bundle, comprisinga productivity grant and support to form savingsgroups.Public Disclosure Authorized »The financial capital bundle also yielded large andsustained impacts, while the human capital bundlehad no measurable impact.Across most outcomes,the full SWL package and financial capital bundle hadequivalent impacts in the short term, though the fullSWL package yielded bigger longer term impactson consumption and reductions in extreme povertythan the financial capital bundle alone, demonstratingthe added value of combining financial and humancapital support. The human capital bundle showed nosignificant effects in either the short run or long run. »The full package of SWL support decreased extremepoverty by 30% and led to improvements acrossarange of other critical welfare domains.Theprogram delivered near-immediate benefits: one yearafter the program, the full package increased totalconsumption by 19% and total household income by28%. These impacts not only persisted but also grewover the longer-term. Three years after the program,thefull package increased overall consumption(including both food and non-food items) by 38%,food consumption by 35%, and non-food consumptionby 52%, under-scoring its effectiveness in enhancinghouseholdwelfare.These consumption impactsPublic Disclosure Authorized »The SWL intervention is cost effective. For eachdollar spent, the full package already yielded $1.33 inbenefitsand could yield total benefits as highas$10.98,with the exact amount depending onthelonger-term persistence of impacts,provingthat it is an efficient and impactful way to improvehousehold welfare. The full SWL intervention achieved a 30%reduction in extreme poverty, boostinghousehold income and food security forpoor rural women in Zambia. Context Almost 50 percent of Zambians live in extreme poverty accordingtothe 2022 Living Cost and Monitoring Survey.Multi-faceted,graduation-style interventions have shown promise in lifting householdsout of extreme poverty by enabling them to diversify their income-generating activities. There is growing evidence that the positive impactson income, consumption, and assets resulting from these programs canpersist and potentially increase long after the intervention. Promoting strengthand resilience:An SWLbeneficiary standsproudly. Building on this promise, the Government of Republic of Zambia launchedSWLunder the Girls’Education and Women’s Empowerment andLivelihoods (GEWEL) Project in 2015 to boost livelihoods outcomes forvulnerable women. SWL targets poor, rural women with a bundled “bigpush” package comprising: (i) a 21-session life and business skills training;(ii) a productivity grant equivalent to US$225; (iii) support to form savingsgroups; and (iv) six months of group mentoring. While complex, SWLis more limited than other multi-faceted packages: at the time of thestudy, it was not layered on top of regular cash transfers, lasted 8-10months, focused on grants rather than livestock and asset distribution,and included group mentoring rather than one-on-one mentoring. What we did The Project partnered with the Africa Gender Innovation Lab to conductan impact evaluation (IE) to understand how SWL activities affectedvulnerablewomen’s livelihoods.The IE compared the impacts andcost-effectiveness of three SWL variants: a “full” SWL package withall four activities; a “human capital” bundle with only skills trainingand mentorship; and a “financial capital” bundle with only grants andsavings groups. SWL businessprofits increasedby 80% Household incomeenhanced by 62% The evaluation was embedded in the rollout of the SWL, targeting75,000 beneficiaries across 51 districts in all 10 Zambian provinces.It measured the SWL’s impact at two stages: one year and three anda half years after implementation. The research team randomized 298SWL communities acro