https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9429 2026-05-05T13:40:04Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/11642 Technologies and infrastructure to reduce the work burden of women Saleemi, Sundus; Getahun, Tigabu D.; Mekonnen, Jemberu L.; Asante, Felix A.; Awo, Martha A.; Bonzo, Benjamin B.; Sam, Ralph; Isoto, Rosemary E.; Nakamatte, Irene; Bashaasha, Bernard Gender and social norms in African countries result in a greater share of overall work on women than men. Notably, women and girls across the globe undertake a greater share of unpaid domestic and care work than men. This disparity has several implications. First, despite consuming women’s time and effort this work remains unremunerated. Second, by constraining women’s time, it limits their capacity to participate fully in paid work which has implications for women’s income, wealth, resource access and voice and bargaining power within households and the society at large. Moreover, when women and girls undertake both paid and unpaid work, they sacrifice rest and leisure. For young girls and girl children, work impacts their schooling and skills development. The distribution of unpaid work between men and women, however, can change over time with changes in gender norms. Moreover, unpaid work can be reduced through technologies, access to markets and infrastructure. Drawing on PARI research on time use, this policy brief first presents the distribution of men’s and women’s time use between paid work, unpaid work and leisure and highlights the gendered patterns of its distribution in the rural households of Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda. It further presents these patterns for children and their time in schooling and learning activities. Moreover, we show agricultural and domestic technologies along with access to infrastructure that can reduce unpaid work. 2024-06-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/11503 Can the agroprocessing sector create jobs in Africa? Konok, Khadeja Akter; Kubik, Zaneta; Getahun, Tigabu D.; Omari, Rose; Oueslati Zlaoui, Meriem The lack of adequate employment opportunities continues to be one of the principal challenges hindering poverty reduction efforts in Africa. Despite sustained economic growth – at least until the Covid-19 pandemic – the African economy has not been able to absorb sufficient labour: between 2000 and 2014, a 1% increase in GDP was associated with only a 0.41% increase in employment. This low contribution of economic growth to job creation has mainly been explained by the limited role that the manufacturing sector plays in the African economy. In this context, the food sector has the potential to accelerate Africa’s economic transformation and development, and contribute to the much-needed job creation. Food system transformation in Africa has been shaped by the changing patterns of food demand, moving away from staple and unprocessed foods to high-value fresh, processed and convenience foods. By 2030, the African food market is expected to reach US$1 trillion, potentially making agriculture and agribusiness catalysts for job creation, development and poverty reduction. This policy brief offers insights on the potential of the agroprocessing sector to create decent and inclusive jobs in Africa, based on evidence from Ethiopia, Ghana and Tunisia. 2024-04-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/11493 How to reduce the impact of mothers’ time demands on children’s diets Saleemi, Sundus; Bubune Letsa, Crystal; Owusu-Authur, Johnny; Mohammed, Abubakri; Baah-Tuahene, Sylvia; Yeboah, Marilyn; Omari, Rose Globally, women undertake a larger share of domestic and care work than men. This work is crucial for the provision of goods (e.g. cooked meals) and services (e.g. care) to members of the household including children. In addition to unpaid domestic and care work, women also perform many other tasks. As a result, women are often time-burdened, that is, they have competing demands on their time which force them to cut down the time spent on some of these activities. For example, time demands for work outside the household may force women to reduce domestic and care work. A reduction in this time may potentially impact the goods and services available to members of the household. This Policy Brief sheds light on the impact of mothers’ time demands in Ghana on the quality and quantity of children’s diets and analyses pathways that could mediate the impact of time burdens on children’s nutrition. 2024-03-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/11379 How to engage smallholder producers in scaling the dairy and poultry sectors Konok, Khadeja Akter; Gulati, Ashok; Ritika, Juneja India is a land of smallholders and its dairy and poultry sectors are no exception. The average herd size of the dairy sector is less than four animals per household. Nevertheless, India is the largest milk producer in the world (230 million tons in 2022-23), followed by the US at 103 million tons. The country has come a long way from being a milk-deficit country in the 1950s and 60s to a self-sufficient one with some surplus. Milk is not only the biggest agri-commodity (bigger than paddy, wheat, pulses and sugarcane put together), but the sector also employs 80 million rural households. Of the total workers engaged in milk production, more than 70 percent are women. On the other hand, the poultry sector has been the fastest-growing agriculture sector over the last two decades. Between 2000 and 2020, India’s poultry meat and egg production grew at an annual average rate of growth of 9 and 7 percent, respectively. India is now the third-largest producer of eggs in the world and the fifth-largest producer of broilers. In 2020, almost 80 percent of poultry production (in value terms) came from the organized contract farming segment and almost 70 percent of poultry farmers engaged through contract farming are smallholder farmers with a flock size of 3,000-10,000 birds. This policy briefs sheds light on the factors that have contributed to the growth of the two livestock sectors as well as challenges that remain to be addressed. 2024-02-01T00:00:00Z