LAC Gender Impact Evaluation Initiative

The LAC Gender Impact Evaluation Initiative is working to fill critical knowledge gaps, highlighted by the World Development Report 2012, on the role of agency in the promotion of gender equity. The initiative is dedicated to producing research that serves as a useful resource for evidence-driven policy making.

Evidence suggests that building agency can be a powerful and cost effective instrument to help women and girls take advantage of their assets and opportunities and to contribute to overall development.

However, much more knowledge and evidence is needed to understand how to promote agency and its impacts on gender equity and development outcomes.

The objective of the LAC Gender Impact Evaluation Initiative is to use rigorous impact evaluations to identify effective tools for measuring agency and improve our understanding of agency and gender equity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Gender Impact Evaluation works to achieve its goals by:

• Implementing agency informed impact evaluations with LAC Governments and World Bank projects
• Providing technical assistance to Bank teams implementing impact evaluations conducted within LAC to include a gender and agency focus
• Disseminating evidence and partnering across sectors and stakeholders to build knowledge on gender impact evaluations.
• Disseminate evidence and partnering across sectors and stakeholders to build knowledge on gender impact evaluations.

LAC Gender Impact Evaluations

Nicaragua

Social Interactions with Female Community Leaders Change Aspirations for the Future and Outcomes: In Nicaragua, social interactions with community leaders affect household attitudes and improve program impacts on human capital and productive investments.

Peru

TB Treatment Adherence: Does Gender Make a Difference?: In Peru, a local NGO provided psychological, social, and economic support to families affected by TB and the World Bank assessed how this changed TB treatment adherence in different ways for men and women.              

Haiti

How does life skills and vocational training impact employment and empowerment outcomes? In Haiti, life skills training and vocational training were randomly applied and evaluators are assessing the impact on labor market entry for adolescent girls, empowerment and agency.

Ecuador

What is the role of agency in teenage fertility decisions?  Evaluators are working with the Government of Ecuador to assess what interventions drive changes in decision making and action to deter pregnancy and why.

Argentina

Do infrastructure improvements impact women and men’s self-esteem differently? In Argentina, evaluators will assess how road construction and water sanitation projects affect men and women differently.

Colombia

What are the long term impacts of CCTs on post-secondary education and labor market opportunities for men and women? In Colombia, evaluators are tracking CCT recipients and non-recipients to assess the impacts over the long term.

Bolivia

How does Community Driven Development (CDD) affect empowerment and community participation for men and women? Economists are working with the government of Bolivia to assess the impacts of female and male participation in CDD.