This Results Brief is a product of the World Bank Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) and Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice. The authors would like to thank Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the World Bank’s umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE) for funding. We thank the Ethiopian Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), Yohannes Solomon, Tsedey Asheber, Yemsrach Kinfe, Tewodros Tassew, Mengistu Bessir, Salman Alibhai, Francesco Strobbe, Rachel Coleman, Kenno Itana, Assefa Abba and Abraham Hailemariam for their contributions to WEDP over the years. We also thank Sakina Shibuya and Rajdev Brar for excellent research assistance and numerous partners who supported the research in Ethiopia. The Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) conducts impact evaluations of development interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa, seeking to generate evidence on how to close gender gaps in earnings, productivity, assets, and agency. The impact objective of GIL is increasing takeup of effective policies by governments, development organizations, and the private sector to address the underlying causes of gender inequality in Africa, particularly in terms of women’s economic and social empowerment.
The Lab aims to do this by producing and delivering a new body of evidence and developing a compelling narrative, geared towards policymakers, on what works and what does not work in promoting gender equality.