IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveco/v164y2023ics0304387823001013.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multifaceted programs targeting women in fragile settings: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Author

Listed:
  • Angelucci, Manuela
  • Heath, Rachel
  • Noble, Eva

Abstract

We study the impact of a multifaceted program for ultra-poor women in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. We cross-randomized the primary treatment – a holistic set of services and financial support – with a 16-week men’s engagement program (MEP) for spouses and male household members. The core treatment has large effects on consumption, employment and finances, women’s empowerment, and health, with most effects still significant two years after the program start. We find heterogeneous effects on intimate partner violence, which decreased for women at high risk of violence but increased for women at low risk. The MEP yields no lasting additional impacts for women. Multifaceted programs targeting women can be an effective way to lift people out of poverty and increase women’s empowerment, although care is needed to minimize backlash.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelucci, Manuela & Heath, Rachel & Noble, Eva, 2023. "Multifaceted programs targeting women in fragile settings: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:164:y:2023:i:c:s0304387823001013
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387823001013
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103146?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N. Bloom, 2016. "Fluctuations in uncertainty," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 4.
    2. Yoav Benjamini & Abba M. Krieger & Daniel Yekutieli, 2006. "Adaptive linear step-up procedures that control the false discovery rate," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 93(3), pages 491-507, September.
    3. Anderson, Michael L, 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt15n8j26f, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    4. Dan Anderberg & Helmut Rainer & Jonathan Wadsworth & Tanya Wilson, 2016. "Unemployment and Domestic Violence: Theory and Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(597), pages 1947-1979, November.
    5. Heath, Rachel & Hidrobo, Melissa & Roy, Shalini, 2020. "Cash transfers, polygamy, and intimate partner violence: Experimental evidence from Mali," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Adoho, Franck M. & Doumbia, Djeneba, 2022. "Informal Sector Heterogeneity and Income Inequality: Evidence from The Democratic Republic of Congo," Journal of Economic Development, The Economic Research Institute, Chung-Ang University, vol. 47(4), pages 55-77, December.
    7. Arielle Bernhardt & Erica Field & Rohini Pande & Natalia Rigol, 2019. "Household Matters: Revisiting the Returns to Capital among Female Microentrepreneurs," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 141-160, September.
    8. Alex Armand & Orazio Attanasio & Pedro Carneiro & Valérie Lechene, 2020. "The Effect of Gender-Targeted Conditional Cash Transfers on Household Expenditures: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(631), pages 1875-1897.
    9. Dan Anderberg & Helmut Rainer & Jonathan Wadsworth & Tanya Wilson, 2016. "Unemployment and Domestic Violence: Theory and Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(597), pages 1947-1979, November.
    10. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    11. Clare Balboni & Oriana Bandiera & Robin Burgess & Maitreesh Ghatak & Anton Heil, 2023. "Why Do People Stay Poor?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(2), pages 785-844.
    12. Brune, Lasse & Karlan, Dean & Kurdi, Sikandra & Udry, Christopher, 2022. "Social protection amidst social upheaval: Examining the impact of a multi-faceted program for ultra-poor households in Yemen," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    13. Bossuroy,Thomas & Goldstein,Markus P. & Karlan,Dean S. & Kazianga,Harounan & Pariente,William & Premand,Patrick & Thomas,Catherine Cole & Udry,Christopher Robert & Vaillant,Julia & Wright,Kelsey Ann, 2021. "Pathways out of Extreme Poverty : Tackling Psychosocial and Capital Constraints with a Multi-faceted Social Protection Program in Niger," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9562, The World Bank.
    14. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    15. Oriana Bandiera & Robin Burgess & Narayan Das & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2017. "Labor Markets and Poverty in Village Economies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 811-870.
    16. Clare Balboni & Oriana Bandiera & Robin Burgess & Maitreesh Ghatak & Anton Heil, 2022. "Why Do People Stay Poor? [“Exploring Poverty Traps and Social Exclusion in South Africa Using Qualitative and Quantitative Data,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 137(2), pages 785-844.
    17. Victoria Baranov & Sonia Bhalotra & Pietro Biroli & Joanna Maselko, 2020. "Maternal Depression, Women's Empowerment, and Parental Investment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(3), pages 824-859, March.
    18. Ana Maria Buller & Amber Peterman & Meghna Ranganathan & Alexandra Bleile & Melissa Hidrobo & Lori Heise, 2018. "A Mixed-Method Review of Cash Transfers and Intimate Partner Violence in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 218-258.
    19. Hainmueller, Jens & Xu, Yiqing, 2013. "ebalance: A Stata Package for Entropy Balancing," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 54(i07).
    20. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Garima Sharma, 2021. "Long-Term Effects of the Targeting the Ultra Poor Program," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 471-486, December.
    21. Gustavo J. Bobonis & Melissa González-Brenes & Roberto Castro, 2013. "Public Transfers and Domestic Violence: The Roles of Private Information and Spousal Control," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 179-205, February.
    22. Orazio Attanasio & Valerie Lechene, 2002. "Tests of Income Pooling in Household Decisions," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(4), pages 720-748, October.
    23. Manuela Angelucci & Giacomo De Giorgi, 2009. "Indirect Effects of an Aid Program: How Do Cash Transfers Affect Ineligibles' Consumption?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 486-508, March.
    24. Matthew W. Ridley & Gautam Rao & Frank Schilbach & Vikram H. Patel, 2020. "Poverty, Depression, and Anxiety: Causal Evidence and Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 27157, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Bilge Erten & Pinar Keskin, 2024. "Trade-offs? The Impact of WTO Accession on Intimate Partner Violence in Cambodia," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(2), pages 322-333, March.
    26. Manuela Angelucci & Rachel Heath, 2020. "Women Empowerment Programs and Intimate Partner Violence," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 110, pages 610-614, May.
    27. Guadalupe Bedoya & Aidan Coville & Johannes Haushofer & Mohammad Isaqzadeh & Jeremy P. Shapiro, 2019. "No Household Left Behind: Afghanistan Targeting the Ultra Poor Impact Evaluation," NBER Working Papers 25981, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Anna Aizer, 2010. "The Gender Wage Gap and Domestic Violence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1847-1859, September.
    29. Anderson, Michael L., 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1481-1495.
    30. Angelucci Manuela, 2008. "Love on the Rocks: Domestic Violence and Alcohol Abuse in Rural Mexico," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-43, October.
    31. Johannes Haushofer & Charlotte Ringdal & Jeremy P. Shapiro & Xiao Yu Wang, 2019. "Income Changes and Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Unconditional Cash Transfers in Kenya," NBER Working Papers 25627, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Díaz, Juan-José & Saldarriaga, Victor, 2023. "A drop of love? Rainfall shocks and spousal abuse: Evidence from rural Peru," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Sahay, Abhilasha & Dervišević, Ervin & Perova, Elizaveta, 2023. "Conditional cash transfers and violence against women – Does the type of violence matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    3. Pinotti, Paolo & Bhalotra, Sonia & Britto, Diogo & Sampaio, Breno, 2021. "Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence," CEPR Discussion Papers 16350, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Calvi, Rossella & Keskar, Ajinkya, 2021. "'Til Dowry Do Us Part: Bargaining and Violence in Indian Families," CEPR Discussion Papers 15696, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Astghik Mavisakalyan & Anu Rammohan, 2021. "Female autonomy in household decision-making and intimate partner violence: evidence from Pakistan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 255-280, March.
    6. Lnu,Anukriti & Erten,Bilge & Mukherjee,Priya, 2022. "Women’s Political Representation and Intimate Partner Violence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10113, The World Bank.
    7. Gustavo J Bobonis & Roberto Castro & Juan S Morales, 2020. "Legal Reforms, Conditional Cash Transfers, and Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Mexico," Working Papers tecipa-678, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    8. García-Ramos, Aixa, 2021. "Divorce laws and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    9. Gazeaud, Jules & Khan, Nausheen & Mvukiyehe, Eric & Sterck, Olivier, 2023. "With or without him? Experimental evidence on cash grants and gender-sensitive trainings in Tunisia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    10. Luca Braghieri & Ro'ee Levy & Alexey Makarin, 2022. "Social Media and Mental Health," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3660-3693, November.
    11. Sofia Amaral, 2015. "Do Improved Property Rights Decrease Violence Against Women in India?," Discussion Papers 15-10, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    12. Erica Field & Rohini Pande & Natalia Rigol & Simone Schaner & Charity Troyer Moore, 2021. "On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(7), pages 2342-2375, July.
    13. Teresa Molina & Mari Tanaka, 2023. "Globalization and Female Empowerment: Evidence from Myanmar," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(2), pages 519-565.
    14. Manuela Angelucci & Daniel Bennett, 2024. "The Economic Impact of Depression Treatment in India: Evidence from Community-Based Provision of Pharmacotherapy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(1), pages 169-198, January.
    15. Gulesci, Selim & Puente–Beccar, Manuela & Ubfal, Diego, 2021. "Can youth empowerment programs reduce violence against girls during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    16. Banerjee, Abhijit & Karlan, Dean & Osei, Robert & Trachtman, Hannah & Udry, Christopher, 2022. "Unpacking a multi-faceted program to build sustainable income for the very poor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    17. Gedikli, Cigdem & Popli, Gurleen & Yilmaz, Okan, 2023. "The impact of intimate partner violence on women’s labour market outcomes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    18. Erten, Bilge & Keskin, Pinar, 2021. "Female employment and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Syrian Refugee inflows to Turkey," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    19. Ana Tur-Prats, 2019. "Family Types and Intimate Partner Violence: A Historical Perspective," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 878-891, December.
    20. Veronica Grembi & Anna C. Rosso & Emilia Barili, 2024. "Domestic violence perception and gender stereotypes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-32, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Women’s empowerment; Financial inclusion; Fragile and conflict-affected areas;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:164:y:2023:i:c:s0304387823001013. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.