Speaker
Description
This study evaluates the long-term impact of a gender-transformative intervention that provided bicycles to adolescent girls in rural Zambia to enhance school attendance and empowerment. Implemented in 2017 across 100 schools, the intervention aimed to reduce travel barriers and improve educational access. Using an experimental design with a final sample of 1,615 adolescent girls (676 treatment, 939 control), we estimate the causal impact of bicycle ownership on maternal and child health (MCH) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes five years post-intervention.
Our findings indicate a significant increase in adolescent pregnancy among the treatment group, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.47 (95% CI: 1.12, 1.94), suggesting a 47% higher likelihood of pregnancy compared to the control group. However, the intervention had no significant effects on antenatal care visits, iron-folic acid use, institutional deliveries, birth weight, or exclusive breastfeeding. For SRH outcomes, girls in the treatment group were significantly more likely to report ever having had sexual experience (OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.26, 1.88) and a higher desire for pregnancy (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.18). Causal mediation analysis suggests that increased empowerment partially mediated the observed rise in adolescent pregnancy.
These findings highlight the complexities of gender-transformative interventions in low-resource settings. While aiming to empower adolescent girls, increased mobility and decision-making power may intersect with unintended reproductive health consequences. This underscores the need for integrated program designs that complement empowerment initiatives with comprehensive SRH education and services to mitigate adverse outcomes.
| Keyword | Impact Evaluation |
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