Gender, Climate Change and Social Protection: Experimental Evidence on a Program to Jointly Tackle Constraints
Researchers: Tara Bedi, Thomas Bossuroy, Dalal Hassan, Dilini Hemachandra, Michael King
Partners: Trinity College Dublin, University of Peradeniya, Department of Samurdhi Development, Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment, World Bank
Location: Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Matara and Puttalam, Sri Lanka
Sample: Approximately 6,600 beneficiary households in 352 GN Divisions
Timeline: 2025-2028
Description:
ISri Lanka experienced a severe economic crisis during 2022–2024, causing widespread increases in poverty, inflation and livelihood disruption. In response, the Government of Sri Lanka, with support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, launched the Aswesuma cash transfer programme and sought to complement income support with more comprehensive livelihood interventions.
Building on its network of Samurdhi Development Officers in virtually every Grama Niladhari Division, the Department of Samurdhi Development designed the Empowerment Program pilot. This multi-layered intervention is modelled on the internationally validated Graduation Approach pioneered by BRAC in Bangladesh.
The Empowerment Program targets Aswesuma beneficiaries and delivers a Family Development Plan across six dimensions of wellbeing; psychosocial counselling; technical, soft-skills and financial literacy training; a business or wage-employment plan; a grant of LKR 150,000; and continuous coaching and mentoring over 12–18 months.
The study addresses the lack of rigorous evidence on the impact of the Empowerment Program in Sri Lanka and the question of whether layering Climate-Smart Agriculture training and household cooperation training onto the core programme generates additional benefits. It will evaluate the programme’s impact on household welfare, livelihoods, food security and psychosocial wellbeing and generate evidence to inform its scale-up and future design.
The study uses a clustered Randomized Controlled Trial covering 352 GN Divisions across five districts. Approximately 6,600 households are included across 264 treatment GNs and 88 control GNs. The treatment GNs are assigned to four programme arms:
Core Programme Only
Core Programme and Household Cooperation Training
Core Programme and Climate-Smart Agriculture Training
Core Programme, Household Cooperation Training and Climate-Smart Agriculture Training
The Climate-Smart Agriculture training integrates climate adaptation knowledge and practices into livelihoods programming. It aims to make income gains more resilient to climate shocks, reduce agricultural losses and improve food and nutritional security.
The Household Cooperation Training is a gender-transformative programme designed to run alongside the Empowerment Program. It aims to promote positive relationships between women and men, improve spousal communication, joint decision-making and intra-household cooperation, and minimise adverse effects on women’s safety and household dynamics.
Data will be collected through a baseline survey and two endline surveys. Primary outcomes include consumption, assets and food security. Secondary outcomes include income-generating activity performance, financial inclusion and psychosocial wellbeing.