Impact Evaluation of Gender Sensitive intervention to improve women’s labor market outcomes in Kenya

Our research method employs a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of the gender-sensitive soft-skills training to improve labour market, empowerment, and well-being outcomes for young women. This will be done in the context of four Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs implemented by four TVET centers operating under the Kenyan Ministry of Education

The soft-skills training model will be designed considering young women’s unique interests, preferences, and constraints. Beyond the usual skills training this will include components aimed at empowering young women—enhancing their ability to make strategic life choices and to act upon those choices—within their households, communities, and ultimately in the labour market. The course will include information about relevant labour market returns to TVET and success stories of women who succeeded in male-dominated sectors. We aim to encourage women to enter non-traditional sectors that are believed to generate higher economic returns.

The research team will hire a specialized consultant to develop the course material in video and the total length of the course (video) is expected to be about 10 hours, to be divided in 10 equal 1-hour length lessons. The lessons will be delivered once every week for ten consecutive weeks. The class teacher in each class assigned to deliver the intervention will show the video to the students and facilitate a short discussion on contents. Class teachers in each center will receive appropriate training to be able to lead the discussion in a specific manner.

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be implemented to quantify the overall impact of the intervention. Eligible groups to this training are those TVET classes and students who are expected to graduate by December 31st, 2022. Among those enrolled students who expect to graduate in one year we will randomly create a Treatment Group and a Control Group. To avoid contamination, the assignment into treatment and control group will be made at class level. That means in each TVET center, those classes graduating before October 31st, 2022 will be grouped into two: those receiving the treatment and those assigned to the control group. We have enlisted and received list of about 280 classes and associated students, which will be assigned into two equal groups. The evaluation will compare outcomes of subjects assigned to the treatment and control groups.

2022-10-03

2022-10-31

Employment

Improvement vis-à-vis control group in graduate’s labour market participation:
o Number of women graduates that are employed, 12 months after graduation
o Average income of women graduates, 12 months after graduation
o Index of job satisfaction among women graduates, 12 months after graduation

Women's empowerment outcomes

• Improvements vis-à-vis control group in women’s empowerment
o Improvement in women’s attitude and perceptions about gender-job stereotypes, 12 months after graduation
o Greater participation by women graduates in household decision-making, 12 months after graduation
o Improvement in women’s non-cognitive skills, such as self-efficacy and locus on control.
o Improvements in women’s empowerment

• Treatment: gender-sensitive soft-skills training
o Beyond the usual skills training delivered in the centers, students in classes assigned to the Treatment group will also receive a 1-hour video lesson every week for ten consecutive weeks towards the end of their TVET training. The class teacher will show the video to the students and facilitate a guided discussion.

o The lessons will address women’s challenges and constraints in the Kenyan labor market and work environment. We also intend for the final lesson of the course to feature successful role models who managed to make breakthrough in their career and whose experiences can empower other women living in similar conditions.

• Control arm: no treatment
o Subjects in this group will undergo TVET training as usual, without the addition of the gender-sensitive soft-skills lessons.

Randomization done in office by a computer.

Classes

Yes

Considering attrition, we will work with a final sample of 6450 candidates in 94 classes.

6450 candidates

We will assign 50 percent of the clusters to the treatment group and the remaining 50 percent to a control group

Based on our calculations, this sample of 6450 candidates in 94 classes will enable us to detect an 8 PP increase in labor market participation (in line with what is expected in the literature) with an 80% power at a 0.05 significance level.