Publication: The Enduring Impacts of a Big Push during Multiple Crises: Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan
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Date
2023-11-07
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Published
2023-11-07
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Abstract
How do proven strategies to improve the economic conditions of ultra-poor households hold up against the increasing severity and co-incidence of economic, security, and climate shocks Five years after receiving an economic livelihoods package, and shortly prior to the 2021 regime change, “ultra-poor” women in Afghanistan continued to have significantly higher levels of consumption, assets, market work participation, financial inclusion, children’s school enrollment, and women’s psychological well-being and empowerment, relative to the control group. Households boost resilience by diversifying productive activities and the program improves equality by reducing the gaps between ultra-poor and non-ultra- poor households across multiple dimensions. The results illustrate how an increasingly popular approach to improve the conditions of the very poor through a one-off “big push” intervention can strengthen household resilience through multiple shocks in one of the most fragile settings worldwide.
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“Bedoya, Guadalupe; Belyakova, Yulia; Coville, Aidan; Escande, Thomas; Isaqzadeh, Mohammad; Ndiaye, Aminata. 2023. The Enduring Impacts of a Big Push during Multiple Crises: Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan. Policy Research Working Paper; 10596. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40577 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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