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Wheels of change: the impact of bicycle access on girls’ education and empowerment outcomes in rural Zambia; study summary

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Abstract

Previous evidence suggests that providing bicycles to school girls reduced the gender gap in school enrollment in India, but little has been known about the impact of bicycle distribution programs in sub-Saharan Africa and whether such programs can increase girls’ empowerment. In rural Zambia, researchers partnered with World Bicycle Relief (WBR) to evaluate the impact of bicycle access on girls’ educational and empowerment outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest the bicycles reduced commute time, increased punctuality to school, and reduced the number of days girls were absent from school by 28 percent in the previous week. Findings also suggest the program improved measures of empowerment, including girls’ sense of control over the decisions affecting their lives (i.e., their “locus of control” increased). However, researchers did not find evidence that the program impacted school dropout or grade transition. Further results are forthcoming.

Corporate Author
Innovations for Poverty Action(IPA)
Year of publication
2019
Imprint
New Haven (IPA, 2019, p.4)
Linguistic region
Country (Geographical area)
Source database
curatED
Language