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

This project aims to test the effectiveness of gender-sensitive skills training and employer incentives to address gender gaps in labour market participation. This will be done in the context of a multifaceted Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program implemented by a local non-government organization, CAP-Youth Empowerment Institute (CAP-YEI), which has been providing TVET to vulnerable, out-of-school youth in Kenya for the last 10 years.

Informed by local demand assessments, CAP-YEI’s Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) curriculum is designed to help vulnerable, male and female youth (aged 18 to 25 ) who have completed primary or secondary school develop demand-oriented employability skills and link them to internships, job placements, entrepreneurship startups, and mixed livelihoods. CAP-YEI is currently involved in TVET reforms in Kenya by supporting Competence-Based Education and Training through its capacity building program, developing national curricula in various technical fields and influencing policy through research. CAP-YEI brings its extensive experience in direct youth training using the BEST model in 21 trades. It brings a deep understanding of the Kenya TVET system at the national and county levels, as well as on the ground expertise and vast networks.

The training will be organized across alternative fields. Traditionally, CAP YEI trainings are organized across seven fields: (i) hospitality, (ii) security, (iii) automotive, (iv) electrical, (v) hair and beauty, (vi) building and construction, and (vii) industrial garment and manufacturing.
Gender-sensitive training sessions will be incorporated into life-skills training sessions delivered alongside vocational training for each field. Gender-sensitive training modules cover the competencies required in creating gender awareness for sensitivity to gender issues. Through these sessions, trainees will learn about the genesis of gender equality discourse through Welfare, Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD) approaches and they will approach international tools of legislation such as Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Through guided discussions, each class will discuss role of culture and socialization in gender inequality. The final aim of these sessions is to help trainees understand how the gender gap operates in the workplace and to empower 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.

2021-05-03

2021-08-31

Employment and earnings

Women's empowerement outcomes, in particular 1) increased decision-making power on important household decisions and 2) increased self-efficacy.

Topics topics for which to ask about decision making will include, at minimum, how the money earned by the woman is used, major household purchases,
and health care for women.

Heterogeneity analysis will be done by age, education and poverty level.

The evaluation will compare outcomes of women assigned to the groups detailed below. Male youths will participate in the training courses as they cannot be excluded due to ethical concerns, but are not considered research subjects in this study.

• Treatment 1: gender-sensitive skills training (T1)
o Beyond the usual skills training covered under the BEST model, a gender-sensitive component will be added to life-skills training.
o In addition to the coursework, we aim to send personalized weekly messages via SMS with information about relevant labour market returns to TVET and success stories of women.

• Treatment 2: gender-sensitive skills training plus promotion and employer incentives (T2):
o Subjects in this group will receive the same treatment as T1 subjects as well as additional promotional support and a subsidy for potential employers, roughly equivalent to one-month’s salary, to be paid to their employer if the employer retains the graduate for at least 6 months. Selected graduates will also be provided with proof of the subsidy that they can share with potential employers during job interviews, and the subsidy will be announced through a graduation magazine containing graduates’ pictures.

• Control arm: no treatment (C)
o Subjects in this group will not participate in vocational training nor receive SMSs or any kind of promotion among employers.

Randomization done in office by a computer.

Individual.

No

A conservative power calculation shows the total sample needed to detect reasonable impact of these interventions involves 2398 women candidates, of which 1200 will be assigned to the control group and 599 will be assigned into each treatment arm.

A conservative power calculation shows the total sample needed to detect reasonable impact of these interventions involves 2398 women candidates, of which 1200 will be assigned to the control group and 599 will be assigned into each treatment arm.

A conservative power calculation shows the total sample needed to detect reasonable impact of these interventions involves 2398 women candidates, of which 1200 will be assigned to the control group and 599 will be assigned into each treatment arm.

Our power calculation assumes a youth employment rate of 52 percent and an average monthly salary of 10,000 Kenyan Shillings, all informed by relevant literature and CAP-YEI experiences. We assume a 15 percent attrition and a compliance rate of 93 percent, where the latter is informed by historical dropout rates at CAP-YEI. This sample will enable us to detect a minimum of an 8-percentage increase in employment and an 8 percent increase in earnings, in line with lower bound estimates commonly documented by recent studies quantifying returns to these types of trainings.