Working papers
Projects in the field
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“Reducing Intimate Partner Violence of Disadvantaged Women in Monrovia: An Experiment with Red Cross’s Women Training and Integration Program” (with Naresh Kumar)
Abstract
The civil war in Liberia killed around 10% of the population and displaced a majority. Even after more than 15 years of peace, the country is still suffering from the lasting impacts of its civil war, one of them being a permissive environment to violence in everyday lives. While violence against women and girls was systematically mobilized during the war, intimate partner violence (IPV) is highly prevalent in today’s Liberia. To address IPV among a war-affected population, we conduct a randomized controlled trial with 1,200 disadvantaged women in Monrovia, Liberia. We evaluate the effectiveness of an unusually intensive female empowerment program that integrates psychosocial support with vocational training and business capital grants targeted towards marginalized women in slum communities.
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“The Effect of Cash Transfers and Market Access on Households in Rural Liberia and Malawi” (with Shilpa Aggarwal, Jenny Aker, Dahyeon Jeong, Naresh Kumar, Jonathan Robinson, and Alan Spearot)
Abstract
We are evaluating the impact of two cross-cut interventions: (1) a cash transfer program implemented by the NGO GiveDirectly, and (2) a market access intervention which reduces travel costs for farmers to access agricultural inputs like fertilizer and improved seeds. The study takes place in 600 villages in Liberia and Malawi. In each country, 100 villages will receive cash transfers only, 100 will serve as control, 50 will receive both cash transfers and market access, and 50 will receive market access only. We conduct two separate analyses from this experiment. First, we evaluate the direct effect of cash transfers (controlling for market access). In particular, we conduct high-frequency phone surveys to measure the dynamic impacts of transfers, with a particular focus on food consumption and related outcomes. Second, we evaluate the effect of market access and cash, focusing primarily on agricultural technology adoption.