Publication: The Effects of Childcare on Women and Children: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Burkina Faso
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2023-08-01
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2023-08-01
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In a randomized evaluation conducted in Burkina Faso, the authors examine whether the provision of affordable childcare services improves both early childhood development and women’s economic empowerment. The authors find robust improvement in child development indicators and suggestive evidence that women’s employment, financial outcomes, and psychosocial well-being improved with access to community based childcare centers. Providing affordable, quality childcare services is a cost-effective intervention that yields high social gains. The childcare centers were self-sufficient, essentially paying for themselves. There are also additional unaccounted social benefits from children’s improved development, which can reduce poverty and improve key socio-economic life outcomes. The findings showcase promising new evidence that the provision of childcare can positively impact both women and children. However, there is still more room for change to influence women’s decision-making agency and partners’ involvement in domestic tasks. The findings also demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. The childcare centers were not only self-sufficient because they essentially paid for themselves, but also contributed to higher revenue for women who used the childcare centers and the women who were employed as caregivers at the sites.
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“Ajayi, Kehinde F.; Dao, Aziz; Koussoube, Estelle. 2023. The Effects of Childcare on Women and Children: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Burkina Faso. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40133 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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