No description available.

The challenging living conditions of many Senegalese families, and the absence of a providing spouse, have led women to covet new economic opportunities, such as microcredit loans. These loans offer Senegalese women the possibility to financially support their households and become active participants in their economies by starting or sustaining their micro businesses. The study takes place in Grand-Yoff, an overpopulated peri-urban area of the Senegalese capital city Dakar, where most people face daily survival issues. This research examines the impact of microcredit activities in the household of Senegalese female loan recipients in Grand-Yoff by examining socio-economic indicators, in particular outcomes of health, education and nutrition. The research total sample is constituted of 166 female participants who engage in microcredit activities. The research combines both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data for the study were gathered through interviews, surveys, participant observation, focus-groups with the study participants and some of their household members, and document analysis. While some women in the study make steady profits from their business activities, others struggle to make ends meet from their businesses’ meager or unreliable profits. Some study participants who are impoverished have no choice but to invest their loans directly into their households’ dire needs, hence missing their business prerogative. Many women in the study end up in a vicious cycle of debt by defaulting on their loans or making late payments because they do not have the required household and socio-economic conditions to take advantage of these loans. Therefore, microcredit does not make a significant impact in the households of the poorest female participants. The study finds that microcredit improves the household well-being - especially nutrition, health and education - of the participants who have acquired significant social capital such as a providing spouse, formal education, training, business experience, and belonging to business or social networks. The study finds that microcredit’s household impact is intimately tied to the female borrowers’ household conditions and social capital. It is recommended that microcredit services and programs offer their female clients assistance and additional basic services, financial guidance, lower interest rates, and flexible repayment schedules.

The Old Age Pension (OAP) program for elderly South Africans puts a significant cash transfer in the hands of many poor households. This dissertation investigates its impact on labor force participation and consumption of selected household items. In the first half of the dissertation, we take advantage of a policy reform that lowered men's OAP eligibility age from 65 to 60 for men to match that of women for estimation identification. Using the General Household Survey data, we first demonstrate that both men and women respond to the eligibility age by dropping from labor force participation at the eligibility age, as expected. Using a difference-in-difference-in-difference estimator, we estimate that at the median predicted wage, age eligibility reduces men's probability of labor force participation by approximately 6.14 percentage points. Previous studies show that not only is the OAP take-up rate high among the age-eligible, but its value is sufficiently high to generally make it a significant component of total household income for the majority of pensioners and their households. Other studies add that it is a dominant source of income in older households, such that it is often the sole source of income in these households, especially those in rural areas. In the second half of the dissertation, therefore, we examine the impact of age-eligibility status on a number of selected household outcomes, such as food security, sanitation, source of drinking water, and ownership of consumer durable goods. We also examine the extent to which gender influences its impact on household outcomes. We find positive effects on a select number of outcomes; however, we note this is more associated with females' age-eligibility status, but not that of males.