Pathways Out of Extreme Poverty : Tackling Psychosocial and Capital Constraints with a Multi-faceted Social Protection Program in Niger
This paper analyzes a four-arm randomized evaluation of a multi-faceted economic inclusion intervention delivered by the Government of Niger to female beneficiaries of a national cash transfer program. All three treatment arms include a core packag...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/404231614713033789/Pathways-out-of-Extreme-Poverty-Tackling-Psychosocial-and-Capital-Constraints-with-a-Multi-faceted-Social-Protection-Program-in-Niger http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35211 |
| Summary: | This paper analyzes a four-arm
randomized evaluation of a multi-faceted economic inclusion
intervention delivered by the Government of Niger to female
beneficiaries of a national cash transfer program. All three
treatment arms include a core package of group savings
promotion, coaching, and entrepreneurship training, in
addition to the regular cash transfers from the national
program. The first variant also includes a lump-sum cash
grant and is similar to a traditional graduation
intervention (“capital” package). The second variant
substitutes the cash grant with psychosocial interventions
(“psychosocial” package). The third variant includes the
cash grant and the psychosocial interventions (“full”
package). The control group only receives the regular cash
transfers from the national program. All three treatments
generate large impacts on consumption and food security six
and 18 months post-intervention. They increase participation
and profits in women-led off-farm business and livestock
activities, as well as improve various dimensions of
psychosocial well-being. The impacts tend to be larger in
the full treatment, followed by the capital and psychosocial
treatments. Consumption impacts up to 18 months after the
intervention already exceed costs in the psychosocial
package (the benefit-cost ratio for the psychosocial package
is 126 percent; full package, 95 percent; and capital
package, 58 percent). These results highlight the value of
addressing psychosocial constraints as well as capital
constraints in government-implemented poverty reduction programs. |
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