Working Paper

Social protection and foundational cognitive skills during adolescence

author(s) Freund, R.. - Favara, M. - Porter, C. - Behrman, J.
from UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
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themes
regions
  • South-Eastern Asia
  • Asia
  • World
  • South America
  • Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Americas
  • Southern Asia
  • Eastern Africa
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Africa
citation

Freund, R., Favara, M., Porter, C., Behrman, J. “Social protection and foundational cognitive skills during adolescence: evidence from a large Public Works Programme”

Publications and datasets provided via GARDIAN

Abstract

Many low- and middle-income countries have introduced Public Works Programmes (PWPs) to fight poverty. PWPs provide temporary cash-for-work opportunities to boost poor households’ incomes and to provide better infrastructure to local communities. While PWPs do not target children directly, the increased demand for adult labour may affect children’s development through increasing households’ incomes and changing household members’ time uses. This paper expands on a multidimensional literature showing the relationship between early life circumstances and learning outcomes and provides the first evidence that children from families who benefit from PWPs show increased foundational cognitive skills (FCS). This is an output of the Young Lives at Work programme

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