While numerous facts and figures point towards the increasing opportunities for women and their growing participation in economic, political and public decision-making processes, women remain in disadvantaged positions compared to men in many places of the world (World Economic Forum, 2015). Gender bias is deeply embedded in cultures, economies,…

This resource was developed to support Peace Corps Volunteers who are working with schools to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities and programming. It is intended to provide guidance, resources, and ideas to support comprehensive WASH programming that is focused on behavior change and sustainability. There is no "one-size…

In this dissertation, I present three distinct essays in economics of education and health economics that can be read independently from one another. These studies investigate the non-pecuniary benefits of extended primary schooling in a developing country setting. I exploit the 1997 education reform in Republic of Turkey, which extended the…

Despite enormous progress in expanding school enrollment globally, improvements in health have not always followed, raising important questions: Does education, in fact, enable women, men and their families to be healthier? And if so, how? To fill this gap in knowledge, the GIRL Center conducted a systematic review of the evidence for the effects…

Studies on developed countries demonstrate that an increase in women legislators leads to a prioritization in health, an increase in social policy spending, and a decrease in poverty. Women representatives could therefore improve development trajectories in developing countries; yet, currently, no cross-national and longitudinal studies explore…

UIL has published a second edition of a collection of case studies of promising literacy programmes that seek to empower women. "Narrowing the Gender Gap: Empowering Women through Literacy Programmes" (originally published in 2013 as "Literacy Programmes with a Focus on Women to Reduce Gender Disparities") responds to the…

Literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning and a crucial element in the universally recognised right to education. However, illiteracy continues to exist as a global challenge, and many individuals still lack the basic literacy skills that are needed to engage in further learning opportunities and for the economic and social development of…

Training birth attendants (TBAs) to provide essential maternal and infant health care services during delivery and ongoing community care in developing countries. Despite inadequate evidence of relevance and effectiveness of TBA training programmes, there has been a policy shift since the 1990s in that many donor agencies funding TBA training…

The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (McGovern-Dole program) helps support education, child development, and food security for some of the world's poorest children. It provides for donations of U.S. agricultural products, as well as financial and technical assistance, for school feeding and maternal and…

How sensitive is long-run individual well-being to environmental conditions early in life? This paper examines the effect of weather conditions around the time of birth on the health, education, and socioeconomic outcomes of Indonesian adults born between 1953 and 1974. We link historical rainfall for each individual's birth-year and…

Details the 1990 meeting of the World Council of the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) in Lagos, Nigeria. OMEP's Statement to the World Summit for Children is provided. The conditions of Nigerian children and female children in India are considered. (BG)

This United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report proposes a strategy for reducing, and ultimately eliminating, malnutrition in developing countries. It proposes a methodology for the identification of appropriate actions in a given context through situation assessment and analysis, rather than through a predetermined set of technical…

This report documents the progress made in developing and developed nations to improve health, nutrition, education, family planning, and the condition of women over the last 40 years. It presents tables that rank the world's nations and regions on: (1) the mortality rate of children under 5 years of age; (2) the percent of children under 5 years…

In sub-Saharan Africa, aggregate data show that female literacy is associated with higher agricultural productivity and is more strongly correlated than GNP with mortality and immunization rates of young children. A case study of Gambia confirms these relationships, with high female illiteracy apparently impeding both human and economic…

This report summarizes the latest available statistics on international achievements in registering each child at birth; immunizing all children; assisting adolescents, particularly girls; and addressing homelessness in wealthy nations. Each of the report's sections contains a commentary, related statistics, and a discussion on progress and…