Assignment name: Evaluation of the “Increasing Economic and Social Empowerment for Adolescent Girls and Vulnerable Women (EMPOWER)” project | Approx. value of the contract (in current US$): US$ 127,000
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Country: Zambia Location within country: Eastern, Southern and Luapula Provinces | Duration of assignment (months): 19
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Name of Client: Mathematica & US Department of Labor | Total No. of staff-months of the assignment: 35.2
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Contact Person, Title/Designation, Tel. No./Address: | Jacqueline Mathenge, Research Manager, TaRL Africa Team, Lusaka, ZAMBIA Email: [email protected] Phone: +254 736 040 417 |
Start date (month/year): March 2020 Completion date (month/year): December 2021 | No. of professional staff-months provided by your consulting firm/organization or your sub consultants: 35.2
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Name of associated Consultants, if any: N/A
| Name of senior professional staff of your consulting firm/organization involved and designation and/or functions performed (e.g. Project Director/Coordinator, Team Leader): Prof. Gelson Tembo – Survey Manager; Nathan Tembo – Qualitative Data Collection Coordinator; Chisangu Matome – Quantitative Data Collection Coordinator; Anthony Njobvu – Quantitative Data Programmer |
Description of Project: The Impact Evaluation of the Project on Increasing Economic and Social Empowerment for Adolescent Girls and Vulnerable Women in Zambia aimed to assess the effectiveness of a youth training initiative in Eastern Province. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and implemented by Winrock International, the project targeted adolescent girls aged 15 to 17 and women, aiming to reduce child labor and improve employment outcomes. The evaluation, led by Mathematica and supported by Palm Associates, involved two rounds of data collection: qualitative data collection through focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) in 2020, followed by a larger household survey in 2021. The surveys focused on measuring changes in skills acquisition, employment, and awareness of child labor among the beneficiaries. The project contributed critical insights for improving gender equality and economic empowerment in vulnerable communities | |
Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment: In the Impact Evaluation of the Project on Increasing Economic and Social Empowerment for Adolescent Girls and Vulnerable Women in Zambia, Palm Associates provided key data collection services. They conducted two rounds of data collection in Eastern Province. The first round, in 2020, involved organizing and conducting 12 focus group discussions (FGDs) with adolescent girls and women, along with 16 key informant interviews (KIIs) with youth course trainers. In 2021, Palm Associates led a second round of data collection, administering 500 household surveys across seven districts. These surveys included individual interviews with adolescent girls and women, focusing on skills acquisition, employment, and awareness of child labor. Palm Associates was responsible for translating the survey instruments, training enumerators, managing fieldwork, and ensuring data quality through rigorous quality control protocols such as high-frequency checks. They also provided clean and verified data sets, along with qualitative transcripts and summaries, to Mathematica for analysis | |
