Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Most of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa live in rural areas where agriculture is the main income source. This agriculture is characterized by low performance and its productivity growth has been identified as a key driver of poverty reduction. In Niger, as in many other African countries, productivity is even lower among female peasants. To build policy interventions to improve agricultural productivity among women, it is important to measure the potential gap between men and women and understand the determinants that explain the gap. This paper uses the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methodology at the aggregate and detailed levels to identify the factors that explain the productivity gap. The analysis finds that in Niger on average plots managed by women produce 19 percent less per hectare than plots managed by men. It also finds that the gender gap tends to be widest among Niger's most productive farmers. The primary factors that contribute to the gender productivity gap in Niger are: (i) farm labor, with women facing significant challenges in accessing, using, and supervising male farm labor; (ii) the quantity and quality of fertilizer use, with men using more inorganic fertilizer per hectare than women; and (iii) land ownership and characteristics, with men owning more land and enjoying higher returns to ownership than women.

Agriculture --- Communities & Human Settlements --- Gender --- Gender & Development --- Gender & Health --- Gender & Law --- Housing & Human Habitats --- Labor Policies --- Productivity Gap --- Social Protections and Labor

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Together with reductions in indirect taxes on food imports, cash for work programs were one of the main responses implemented by African governments following the food, fuel, and financial crisis of recent years. The main objective of those programs was to help the poor cope with the various shocks by increasing their net earnings through community-level work paid for under the programs. Yet it is unclear whether these cash for work programs indeed reached their intended beneficiaries and to what degree they generated other, potentially long-term beneficial impacts. This paper explores these issues in the context of Liberia and the performance of the Cash for Work Temporary Employment Program (CfWTEP) funded by the World Bank through an emergency crisis facility in response to the 2007/2008 food crisis. Both quantitative and qualitative data are presented, focusing on the operational and policy experiences emerging from program implementation. This paper analyzes the context that led to the creation and implementation of the CfWTEP in Liberia, the nature and administrative arrangements for the program, and its operational performance. The objective is to share the lessons learned from evaluation findings so that they can be useful for implementing similar programs in the future in Liberia itself or in other countries. Findings from the analysis highlight the possibilities of implementing public works program in low capacity, post conflict setting and the scope for using the program as a springboard towards a broader and more comprehensive social safety net.

Accounting --- Best Practices --- Child Care --- Cities --- Community Involvement --- Community Service --- Conflict --- Crime --- Debt --- Economic Development --- Employment and Unemployment --- Employment Opportunities --- Employment Services --- Farmland --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Crisis --- Financial Literacy --- Food Consumption --- Food Security --- Gender --- Household Surveys --- Income Tax --- Labor Costs --- Labor Market --- Labor Policies --- Literacy --- Living Standards --- Minimum Wage --- Natural Disasters --- Nutrition --- Occupations --- Older Workers --- Political Economy --- Poverty Line --- Poverty Reduction --- Poverty Traps --- Productivity --- Public Buildings --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Savings --- Severance Pay --- Skilled Workers --- Social Insurance --- Social Protections and Labor --- Unemployment --- Unskilled Workers --- Urban Areas --- Working Hours --- Youth