Does a joint United Nations microfinance ‘plus’ program empower female farmers in rural Ethiopia? Evidence using the pro-WEAI

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.crpAgriculture for Nutrition and Health
cg.contributor.donorUnited States Agency for International Developmenten
cg.contributor.donorBill & Melinda Gates Foundationen
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden
cg.coverage.countryEthiopia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ET
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africa
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105909en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP)en
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn0305-750Xen
cg.issueAugust 2022en
cg.journalWorld Developmenten
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.volume156en
dc.contributor.authorHillesland, Maryaen
dc.contributor.authorKaaria, Susanen
dc.contributor.authorMane, Erdginen
dc.contributor.authorAlemu, Mihreten
dc.contributor.authorSlavchevska, Vanyaen
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-29T12:58:15Zen
dc.date.available2025-01-29T12:58:15Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/171489
dc.titleDoes a joint United Nations microfinance ‘plus’ program empower female farmers in rural Ethiopia? Evidence using the pro-WEAIen
dcterms.abstractMicrofinance is thought to be an effective tool for empowering women. Yet, previous studies that evaluate microfinance programs have mixed findings. This is in part because there are large variations in the interventions that are evaluated, but also that there is not a standardized metric of empowerment that is implemented consistently throughout the literature. This study investigates the effectiveness of a joint United Nations program aimed at empowering rural women through women-run rural savings and credit cooperatives in Oromia, Ethiopia, using the project-Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index. Building on more than a decade of studies and validation of different versions of the Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index, the tool aims to provide a standardized and comparable metric of women’s empowerment that is flexible enough to measure impacts of development projects. This study finds that the program had a positive impact on intrinsic agency for the beneficiaries with continued access to credit through the RUSACCOs between the baseline and endline. For this group of beneficiaries, the program seemed to increase the trust and respect between spouses. There is a second group of beneficiaries that appeared to have dropped out at the initial stages of the program or lost access to credit, suggesting there may have been problems with the program or possible resistance by spouses or community members. The study expands our understanding of how to measure women’s empowerment impacts of development projects within the context of a smallholder agricultural households.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationHillesland, Marya; Kaaria, Susan; Mane, Erdgin; Alemu, Mihret; and Slavchevska, Vanya. 2022. Does a joint United Nations microfinance ‘plus’ program empower female farmers in rural Ethiopia? Evidence using the pro-WEAI. World Development 156(August 2022): 105909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105909en
dcterms.extent105909en
dcterms.issued2022-08en
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherElsevieren
dcterms.subjectfarmersen
dcterms.subjectgenderen
dcterms.subjectwomenen
dcterms.subjectrural areasen
dcterms.subjectempowermenten
dcterms.subjectwomen's empowermenten
dcterms.subjectwomen farmersen
dcterms.subjectmicrofinanceen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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