Empowering adolescents, transforming futures - durable impacts that extend across generations
Child marriage is widespread in Bangladesh and other low-income areas, limiting girls' educational, economic, and future opportunities.
Abstract
Child marriage remains pervasive in Bangladesh and many low-income settings, undermining girls’ education, reducing their economic participation, and constraining opportunities for their children. Policymakers have invested heavily in empowerment programs and incentives to delay marriage, yet little is known about whether these interventions generate lasting economic gains. This project answers that question through a large-scale randomised trial offering adolescent girls either a 6 month empowerment programme or a financial incentive to delay marriage across 460 communities.
This research is part of the Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries programme.
Citation
Field E and others. ‘Empowering adolescents, transforming futures - durable impacts that extend across generations’ G2LM LIC Policy Brief 85, 2026
Links
Empowering adolescents, transforming futures - durable impacts that extend across generations