Do microcredit and family planning programs have their intended impact on poor households?

Speaker: Dr Jaikishan Desai, Senior Lecturer and Director of International Students, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington.

In this public lecture, Dr Jaikishan Desai summarised the results of a cluster randomised control trial which sought to measure the impact of exposure to family planning and credit programs in two regions of Ethiopia over a three-year period.

Results show that family planning programs had no effect on contraceptive use, fertility and desired family size. The microcredit programs were successful in increasing engagement in the credit market (increased borrowing) but had no measurable impact on a range of outcomes related to income generation and economic well-being.

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