Esther Duflo: "I advise a nonprofit foundation called Innovation for Poverty Action that focuses on keeping girls in school. (We aren’t alone; lots of other terrific organizations do this, too.) In a pilot program we ran in Kenya a few years ago, around 5,000 sixth-grade girls in 163 primary schools were given a $6 school uniform free. If they stayed in school, they received a second uniform after 18 months. The dropout rate over the next three years decreased by a third, to 12 percent, and the pregnancy rate fell to 8 percent from 12 percent. Of every 50 girls given free uniforms, then, three stayed in school as a result of the uniforms alone, and two delayed pregnancy. The benefits of secondary education are even greater. In the same group of Kenyan girls, 50 percent of those who dropped out after primary school had a child within two years, but only 8 percent who went on to secondary school became pregnant in that same period."
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 14:46:45 +0000
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