Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and some of the associated policy responses have resulted in significant gendered impacts that may reverse recent progress in gender equality, including in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents emerging evidence from studies in diverse contexts in s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
F1000 Research Ltd
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Gates Open Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://gatesopenresearch.org/articles/6-47/v1 |
| _version_ | 1817980916727808000 |
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| author | Sapna Desai Rebecca Walcott Thomas de Hoop Leigh Anderson Olayinka Adegbite Osasuyi Dirisu Sybil Chidiac Julia Hakspiel Jenna Grzeslo Emily Janoch Chinmaya Holla Shubha Jayaram Krishna Jafa Tabitha Mulyampiti Grace Majara Eva Noble Eve Namisango David Panetta Bukola Onyishi Munshi Sulaiman Garima Siwach |
| author_facet | Sapna Desai Rebecca Walcott Thomas de Hoop Leigh Anderson Olayinka Adegbite Osasuyi Dirisu Sybil Chidiac Julia Hakspiel Jenna Grzeslo Emily Janoch Chinmaya Holla Shubha Jayaram Krishna Jafa Tabitha Mulyampiti Grace Majara Eva Noble Eve Namisango David Panetta Bukola Onyishi Munshi Sulaiman Garima Siwach |
| author_sort | Sapna Desai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and some of the associated policy responses have resulted in significant gendered impacts that may reverse recent progress in gender equality, including in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents emerging evidence from studies in diverse contexts in sub-Saharan Africa —with a deep dive into Nigeria and Uganda—on how COVID-19 has affected women’s groups, especially savings groups, and how these groups have helped mitigate the gendered effects of the pandemic’s and the associated policy responses’ consequences up until April 2021. The synthesis presents evidence that savings groups found ways to continue operating, provided leadership opportunities for women during the pandemic, and mitigated some of the negative economic consequences of COVID-19 on individual savings group members. Savings, credit, and group support from other members all likely contributed to the ability of groups to positively affect the resilience of women’s group member during COVID-19. Households with a female member in a savings group in Nigeria and Uganda have coped with the crisis better than those not in savings groups. While savings groups have shown the potential for resilience during the pandemic, they often faced financial challenges because of decreased savings, which sometimes resulted in the depletion of group assets. Savings groups also contributed to community responses and provided women a platform for leadership. These findings are consistent with a recent evidence synthesis on how past covariate shocks affected women’s groups and their members. We conclude the paper by presenting various policy recommendations to enable savings groups to achieve improvements in women’s empowerment and economic outcomes, and research recommendations to address some of the current evidence gaps on how COVID-19 is affecting women’s groups and their members. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:58:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c309867ae9de4817bc34fdbdae1b6125 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2572-4754 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:58:58Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | F1000 Research Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Gates Open Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-c309867ae9de4817bc34fdbdae1b61252022-12-22T02:25:54ZengF1000 Research LtdGates Open Research2572-47542022-04-01614816Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]Sapna Desai0Rebecca Walcott1Thomas de Hoop2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0033-1139Leigh Anderson3Olayinka Adegbite4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6661-9522Osasuyi Dirisu5Sybil Chidiac6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1175-3804Julia Hakspiel7Jenna Grzeslo8Emily Janoch9Chinmaya Holla10Shubha Jayaram11Krishna Jafa12Tabitha Mulyampiti13Grace Majara14Eva Noble15Eve Namisango16David Panetta17Bukola Onyishi18Munshi Sulaiman19Garima Siwach20Population Council, New Delhi, IndiaEPAR Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, Seattle, USAInternational Development Division, American Institutes for Research, Washington DC, USAEPAR Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, Seattle, USAIndependent Consultant, Ibidan, NigeriaPopulation Council, Abuja, NigeriaBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, USAMarketShare Associates, Washington DC, USABRAC USA, New York, USACARE International, Washington DC, USAInternational Development Division, American Institutes for Research, Bangalore, IndiaBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, USAGlobal Center for Gender Equality, Stanford University, Stanford, USASchool of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, UgandaCARE International, Kampala, UgandaWomen for Women International, Kampala, UgandaAfrica Centre for Systematic Reviews, Makerere University, Kampala, UgandaSEEP Network, Washington DC, USAWomen for Women International, Abuja, NigeriaBRAC Uganda, Kampala, UgandaInternational Development Division, American Institutes for Research, Austin, USAThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and some of the associated policy responses have resulted in significant gendered impacts that may reverse recent progress in gender equality, including in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents emerging evidence from studies in diverse contexts in sub-Saharan Africa —with a deep dive into Nigeria and Uganda—on how COVID-19 has affected women’s groups, especially savings groups, and how these groups have helped mitigate the gendered effects of the pandemic’s and the associated policy responses’ consequences up until April 2021. The synthesis presents evidence that savings groups found ways to continue operating, provided leadership opportunities for women during the pandemic, and mitigated some of the negative economic consequences of COVID-19 on individual savings group members. Savings, credit, and group support from other members all likely contributed to the ability of groups to positively affect the resilience of women’s group member during COVID-19. Households with a female member in a savings group in Nigeria and Uganda have coped with the crisis better than those not in savings groups. While savings groups have shown the potential for resilience during the pandemic, they often faced financial challenges because of decreased savings, which sometimes resulted in the depletion of group assets. Savings groups also contributed to community responses and provided women a platform for leadership. These findings are consistent with a recent evidence synthesis on how past covariate shocks affected women’s groups and their members. We conclude the paper by presenting various policy recommendations to enable savings groups to achieve improvements in women’s empowerment and economic outcomes, and research recommendations to address some of the current evidence gaps on how COVID-19 is affecting women’s groups and their members.https://gatesopenresearch.org/articles/6-47/v1Gender Equality Women's Groups Savings Groups Africa Nigeria Ugandaeng |
| spellingShingle | Sapna Desai Rebecca Walcott Thomas de Hoop Leigh Anderson Olayinka Adegbite Osasuyi Dirisu Sybil Chidiac Julia Hakspiel Jenna Grzeslo Emily Janoch Chinmaya Holla Shubha Jayaram Krishna Jafa Tabitha Mulyampiti Grace Majara Eva Noble Eve Namisango David Panetta Bukola Onyishi Munshi Sulaiman Garima Siwach Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved] Gates Open Research Gender Equality Women's Groups Savings Groups Africa Nigeria Uganda eng |
| title | Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_full | Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_fullStr | Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_full_unstemmed | Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_short | Women’s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa [version 1; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_sort | women s groups and covid 19 an evidence review on savings groups in africa version 1 peer review 2 approved |
| topic | Gender Equality Women's Groups Savings Groups Africa Nigeria Uganda eng |
| url | https://gatesopenresearch.org/articles/6-47/v1 |
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