BRAC GAAP Presentation January 2013

Gendered Impact of BRAC's
Ultra Poor Program

Addis Ababa
9th January 2013

Outline
 Poverty situation in Bangladesh
 BRAC's Ultra Poor Program: Challenging the
Frontiers of Poverty Reduction
 Study objectives
 Study design
 Results
 Conclusion

Poverty Situation in Bangladesh
 A country of 153m people
 17% live in ultra poverty (BBS 2010)
 Ultra-poor are structurally constrained from
both the demand and supply sides
 BRAC established in 1972 in Bangladesh to
empower the poor and women through various
interventions
 Largest NGO in the world employing over
120,000 employees (annual budget: US$ 600
million)

BRAC's Ultra Poor Program: Challenging
the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction

Program Background:
 Even though Bangladesh is the birthplace of
microfinance, ultra poor are often bypassed
because of both demand and supply side
factors
 The safety net programs of GoB mainly serve
as protective approach rather than
promotional approach

BRAC's Ultra Poor Program:
Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty
Reduction
Objectives of the Program
 Improve extreme
poverty situation at the
household level
 Assist the ultra poor
hoseholds (HHs) getting
access to the
mainstream
development programs.

BRAC Defining Ultra Poor
 Children of school-going
age taking up paid work
 Households with <10
decimal of land.
 Who earn livelihood as
beggar, day-labourer,
domestic aid etc.
 Households with no
productive assets.
 No adult male member in
the household.

Selection process
Three steps selection process
• Participatory Rural Appraisal Method
- Social Mapping
- Wealth Ranking
• Mini survey through questionnaire
• Final selection through verification

Programme Components
• Enterprise Development Training
• Asset Transfer
• Tailor made health care support
• Community Mobilization Work

Graduation Perspectives
• Graduating from ultra poor to a better economic
and social condition
• Graduating into the mainstream development
programmes
Coverage
1st Phase 2nd Phase 3rd Phase Total Coverage
(Achieved) (Achieved) (On going) (achieved and
planned)
Year Year Year Year
2002-2006 2007-2011 2012-2016 2002-2016
1,00,000 2,70,300 2,50,000 6,20,300
Households Households Households Households

Research Objectives
 What are the challenges faced by the poor
households to build financially secure livelihoods?
 What are the types of assets that the women are
more likely to control?
 Does the program intervention increase women’s
control over assets among participant households?
 Do women retain control of assets transferred to
them, or does the asset transfer change patterns of
asset control in more nuanced ways?
 What are the policy implications for other programs
targeting asset transfers to women?

Study design
 To evaluate the ultra poor program we adopted Randomized
control trial design
 Cluster Randomization at the branch office (a geographical
location of about 4 km radius) level
 40 branch offices: 20 control and 20 treated
 From each branch offices all villages/spots were surveyed
 All finally selected households and additional 10% from rest
of the households

Methodology: The Data
 Baseline survey was conducted in 2007 which was
followed up in 2009 and 2011
 The original baseline survey was designed to
investigate effect of the program on livelihoods
 Didn't include detailed information on gendered
control of assets in the baseline and first follow up
survey (2009)
 As RCT evaluation design was used, it is expected
that at baseline there would be no or little difference
between treatment and control groups.

Methodology: The Data
 In 2011, under the GAAP project, a follow-up survey
based on the original RCT sample was conducted
 This included an additional module on gendered control
of assets and men’s and women’s perceptions of barriers
to improved livelihoods
 The idea was to investigate impact of the program using
cross sectional data on the treated and control.

Analytical Technique
 Analysis was done comparing finally selected
households in the treatment area (i.e. those who
received assets) and control areas (those who were
selected by the program but no asset was provided)
 We run cross section regression:
Yi=a+bXi+ei
Where Yi is the outcome variable of interest, Xi is the
binary variable (1 for treatment and zero for control)
Since cluster randomization was followed, standard
errors were estimated at the community level (no of
communities: 839)

Challenges faced by the male members
to build stable livelihoods
Indicators Treatment Control Difference
Males faced difficulties/challenges to build 97.5 97.7 -0.2
stable livelihoods (%)
Types of problem faced by males (%)
Scarcity of adequate capital 32.8 40.6 -7.8**
Inadequate work opportunity/season based 93.3 95.8 -2.5**
work
Inability to do risky/too much hard work 24.8 20.9 3.9
due to physical condition
Scarcity of raw materials 1.1 4.6 -3.5***
Do not get work due to scarcity of personal 7.7 23.5 -15.8***
relationship with chairman/member/work
provider

Note: ***Significant at 1% level, **significant at 5%

Challenges faced by the female
members to build stable livelihoods
Females faced difficulties/challenges 97.2 96.0 1.2
to build stable livelihoods (%)
Types of problem faced by females
Inadequate work opportunity 83.0 88.0 -5.0***
/season based work (%)
Cannot go out in the evening even for 0.6 2.6 -2.0***
urgent work due to the lack of
security (%)
Inadequate knowledge to build stable 2.3 7.8 -5.6***
livelihoods (%)
Employer willing to hire women but 34.5 43.2 -8.7***
paying a lower wage (%)
Note: ***Significant at 1% level

Main women’s engagement in IGA and
rights in taking decision
Indicators Treatmen Contro Differenc
t l e
Main women work to earn
Inside the home 27.2 14.6 12.6***
Outside the home 24.5 40.0 -15.5***
Both 48.3 45.4 2.9
Usually decides how to
spend money earned 97.2 96.5 0.7
Decides to take the loan
from NGO 97.3 97.1 0.2

Main women’s engagement in IGA and rights in taking
decision
Usually decide how to spend
the money from the NGO loan 96.8 94.5 2.3
Decide to buy a dairy cow or
buffalo 96.1 94.1 2.0
Decide to sell a dairy cow or
buffalo 94.4 93.9 0.5
Decide to lease a dairy cow or
buffalo 94.4 86.2 8.3*
Decide about dairy
maintenance expenses (e.g.,
buying feed, medicine etc.) 94.4 89.8 4.6
Note: *significant at 10% level

Perception towards female targeted intervention
Information Response (%)
Support program’s strategy of providing assets to females
Yes 97.35
No 2.65
If yes, then why?
Women can do this work being inside their house 44.24
Women are quite eligible for taking care of such assets 38.62
Women try to improve through proper utilization of the
received assets 17.14
If no, then why?
Men can better take care of the assets 64.41
Women may sold the assets and use the money for
unproductive purpose 13.56
Women lack adequate expertise for this work 22.03

Number of livestock owned by the main female and
spouse
Number owned by
Number owned by main female and Number owned by
No. of main female alone spouse jointly spouse alone
assets Treat Cntrl Diff Treat Cntrl Diff Treat Cntrl Diff
Cow
0.849 0.126 0.723*** 0.140 0.039 0.101*** 0.137 0.066 0.071***
Goat
0.360 0.225 0.135** 0.054 0.029 0.025*** 0.238 0.259 -0.020
Chicke
n
2.013 1.116 0.898*** 0.153 0.099 0.054 0.290 0.093 0.196***
Pigeon
0.022 0.029 -0.006 0.006 0 0.006 0.453 0.083 0.369
Others
1.000 1.167 -0.167 0.000 1.333 -1.333


Number of agricultural productive assets owned by main
female and spouse
Number owned by Number owned by main Number owned by the
main female alone female and spouse jointly spouse alone
Agricultur
al asset Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff
Power
pump 0.004 0.001 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.002 0.018 0.003 0.015***
Axe
0.101 0.094 0.007 0.082 0.073 0.008 0.711 0.575 0.137***
Tractor
0 0 0 0 0.059 0 0.059
Threshing
machine
0 0 0 0 0.160 0.105 0.055

Plough 0.004 0.001 0.003 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.857 0.526 0.331

Mowing
Machine 0.418 0.586 -0.169*** 0.204 0.272 -0.068* 0.679 0.543 0.135**
Note: ***Significant at 1% , **significant at 5%, *significant at 10%

Number of agricultural productive assets owned by main
female and spouse, cont’d
Number owned by Number owned by the
Number owned by main main female and spouse alone
Agricultura female alone spouse jointly
l asset Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff
Deep tube-
well 0.003 0.002 0.001 0.005 0 0.005 0.325 0.143 0.182
Cow-shed
0.221 0.145 0.076*** 0.092 0.046 0.046*** 0.463 0.229 0.234***
Ladder
0.006 0.006 0.001 0.002 0.005 -0.003 0.598 0.368 0.229*
Chopper
with haft
0.293 0.358 -0.065** 0.130 0.122 0.007 0.461 0.230 0.232***
Stored
crops in
home (kg) 1.614 0.720 0.895* 1.054 2.124 -1.070* 32.198 27.646 4.552
Spray
machine 0.004 0.007 -0.002 0.000 0.001 -0.001 0.12 0 0.12*

Number of non-agricultural productive assets owned by
main female and spouse
Number owned by the
Number owned by Number owned by main spouse alone
main female alone female and spouse jointly

Non-agri
productive Trea
assets Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff t Ctrl Diff
Bicycle 0.004 0.004 0.000 0.003 0.002 0.001 0.123 0.102 0.021
Motorcycle
0.001 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000*** 0.034 0.000 0.034
CNG/Taxi 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.001 -0.001 0.063 0.000 0.063
Mobile phone
0.030 0.032 -0.002 0.016 0.012 0.004 0.466 0.277 0.189***
Sewing
machine 0.001 0.004 -0.003 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.129 0.029 0.100
Computer 0.000 0.000 0.000*** 0.000 0.000 0.000*** 0.000 0.000 0.000***
Basket (crafts) 0.408 0.726 -0.318*** 0.121 0.296 -0.176*** 0.385 0.166 0.219***
Shop/small
business 0.005 0.004 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.507 0.396 0.111


Number of non-agricultural productive assets owned by
main female and spouse, cont’d
Owned by main female Owned by main female and Owned by the spouse
Non-agri alone spouse jointly alone
productive
assets Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff
Trees (at least
100 taka)
0.955 0.554 0.401 0.583 0.215 0.369*** 4.851 2.054 2.797
Cash Taka
1,262 328 934*** 159 54 105** 41 120 -79**
Boat
0.001 0.002 -0.002 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.655 0.308 0.347**
Fishing net
0.006 0.017 -0.011 0.002 0.001 0.001 1.017 0.667 0.351**
Rickshaw/van
0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.682 0.630 0.052
Husking
equipment
0.006 0.011 -0.005 0.001 0.004 -0.002 0.129 0.031 0.098
Small cottage
materials
0.063 0.006 0.058*** 0.010 0.001 0.009 0.103 0.043 0.059
Note: ***Significant at 1% and **significant at 5% level

Number of consumer durables/other assets owned by
Owned by the spouse
Owned by main female Owned by main female and
Consumer alone
alone spouse jointly
durables/Other
assets Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff
Chair/table/sofa
0.208 0.174 0.035 0.166 0.174 -0.008 0.911 0.548 0.363***
Living room
0.444 0.531 -0.088** 0.249 0.231 0.018 0.869 0.580 0.289***
Almirah
0.191 0.156 0.035* 0.052 0.070 -0.019* 0.416 0.202 0.215***
Television
0.004 0.001 0.003* 0.005 0.001 0.004** 0.280 0.206 0.074
Tube-well
0.147 0.092 0.054*** 0.058 0.071 -0.013 0.483 0.367 0.116***
Latrine
0.254 0.100 0.154*** 0.087 0.064 0.023** 0.372 0.316 0.057*
Gold jewelry
1.353 1.720 -0.368 0.007 0.013 -0.007 0.109 0.008 0.100***
Silver jewelry
5.249 7.522 -2.273* 0.000 0.353 -0.353 0.025 0.430 -0.405

Amount of land owned by the main female and spouse
Owned by main Owned by spouse
Owned by main female and spouse
female alone jointly
Land type Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff
Homestea
d land 0.669 0.559 0.109 0.062 0.032 0.030 2.155 1.642 0.513***
Cultivated
land 0.322 0.186 0.136 0.006 0.003 0.003 12.142 6.019 6.123***
Pond
0.007 0.001 0.006 0.004 0 0.004 2.377 0.167 2.210***
Uncultivat
ed land 0 0 0.222 0.400 -0.178
Garden 0.001 0.013 -0.012* 0.200 0.293 -0.093

Others 1.5 0 1.5 3.000 9.000 -6.000

Control over income earned by main female and
purchases for main female
Indicators Treat Ctrl Diff
What do you do with the money you earn?
Give it all to my husband / other family 31.09 29.22 1.87**
member
Give some to husband / other member 44.58 44.22 0.36

Keep all 24.32 26.56 -2.24***
Do main female control the money needed
to buy…
Clothes for herself?
30.88 33.44 -2.56***
Medicines for herself?
28.78 31.6 -2.82***
Cosmetics for herself?
34.6 37.13 -2.53***
Note: ***Significant at 1% and **significant at 5% level

Decision making on household spending and saving by the
Main female & Spouse
Who decides Main female spouse
how… Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff Treat Ctrl Diff
To spend money
earned by main
female
26.39 27.76 -1.37* 63.34 61.05 2.29*** 5.24 5.42 -0.18
Much to save 6.32 5.54 0.78**
18.54 20.11 -1.57*** 67.34 66.25 1.09
To spend money
on food 17.13 18.61-1.48*** 41.24 40.6 0.64 31.48 30.53 0.95
To spend money
on housing 16.88 18.28 -1.40** 42.99 42.53 0.46 29.74 28.81 0.93
To spend money
on health care 17.01 18.38 -1.37** 44.07 44.02 0.05 28.47 27 1.47**

Preliminary conclusions: program impacts
 Reduced reports of specific challenges to
livelihoods faced by male and female household
members
 Shifted main females’ work from outside work to
work within the homestead, because the transferred
asset can be cared for at home.
 Regarding dairy cows/buffalo, increased main
female’s participation in decisions regarding
leasing, but not in other matters (buying, selling,
maintenance expenses)
 Most program participants support program’s strategy of
providing assets to females, though some disagree.

 Livestock ownership: Increased females’ sole
ownership of cows and goats, as well as joint ownership
with spouse, and (for cows) ownership by males. Also
increased sole ownership by females and males of
chickens.
 Agricultural assets: for some types, increased male
ownership and decreased female ownership (as
expected, given gender division of labor in agriculture);
for others, increased female, joint, and male ownership.
 Non-agricultural productive assets: for some
types, increased male ownership (boat, fishing net); for
other types, increased female ownership – sole (cash)
and joint (cash, trees)

 Consumer durables: Increased several categories of
female, joint, and male ownership
 Land: Increased male ownership, no impact on female or
joint ownership
 Main female’s control over her earnings/purchases:
Decreased female keeping all money she earns, increased
giving all money to spouse, decreased control over purchases
of clothes/medicines/cosmetics for herself
 Household decision-making: Decreased females’ sole
decisions on how much to save/spend in all categories (own
earnings, food, housing, healthcare), increased joint decisions
on spending female’s earnings, increased male’s sole
decisions on how much to save and how much to spend on
health care

Wrap-up and question for discussion
 Positive impact on livelihoods
 Positive impact on women’s ownership (both
sole and joint) of many assets, especially
livestock, BUT negative impact on women’s
sole decision making

BRAC GAAP Presentation January 2013

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