Abstract
A growing body of evidence demonstrates the crucial importance of access to quality childcare services for child development, women’s economic opportunities, and by extension the wellbeing of families and communities (Aliga et al., 2023). Early childhood care has a central role in fostering children’s physical, intellectual and psychosocial development, with effects experienced along the life course (Black et al., 2017). As women fulfill most care responsibilities across societies, access to childcare services also has transformative potential for women’s engagement with the labor market (Evans, Jakiela and Knauer, 2021).
The effects of interventions focused on early childhood care on children and mothers have been well documented across higher-income country settings (Del Boca, 2015; Morrissey, 2017). A growing body of evidence highlights the empirical relationship between childcare access and women’s employment outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (Halim, Perova and Reynolds, 2023). These studies, geographically dispersed across Africa, Asia and South America, find positive impacts of access to childcare services on women’s economic activities (Berlinski, Galiani and Mc Ewan, 2011; Martinez, Naudeau and Pereira, 2017; Clark et al., 2019; Halim, Johnson and Perova, 2019; Nandi et al., 2020; Attanasio et al., 2022; Bjorvatn et al., 2022; Hojman and Lopez Boo, 2022).
The evidence of the impact of access to quality early childhood care across children and mothers has led to the acknowledgment that investment into childcare reaps a ‘triple dividend’ – fostering child development, promoting women’s labor force participation, and stimulating employment opportunities in the care economy. (UNWomen, 2015).
Recognizing this transformative potential of access to quality childcare services, this project investigates the impact of an accessible and affordable model of home-based entrepreneurial childcare provision on low-income urban households. The participants of this study live in and around Dhaka, Bangladesh. Using a randomized controlled trial (RCT), we will evaluate the uptake and impact of accessible home-based childcare on child development outcomes, women’s economic activities, and their psychosocial wellbeing. In addition, we will qualitatively document the decision-making processes on both the supply and demand side of the home-based care model, to understand the priorities that shape how low-income urban households interact with available childcare services and how this implicates mothers’ labor market participation.