Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Initiative Impact Evaluation - Baseline Survey, 2018
Mauritania, 2018
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MRT_2018_SWEDDIE-BL_v01_M
Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Initiative Impact Evaluation - Baseline Survey, 2018
MRT SWEDD BL 2018
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Mauritania | MRT |
1-2-3 Survey, phase 1 [hh/123-1]
The World Bank Africa Gender Innovation Lab and its partners are conducting rigorous impact evaluations of key interventions under component 1 to assess their effects on child marriage, fertility, and adolescent girls and young women’s empowerment. The interventions were a set of activities targeting adolescent girls and their communities, designed in collaboration with the government of Mauritania. These were (i) safe spaces to empower girls through the provision of life skills and SRH education; (ii) Cash transfer to cover girls’ expenses (transportation cost, food…); (iii) support to income-generating activities (IGA) with the provision of grants and entrepreneurship training and finally (iv) community sensitization by religious and village leaders. The latter two have the objective to change restrictive social norms and create an enabling environment for girls’ empowerment.
These data represent the first round of data collection (baseline) for the impact evaluation. The sample comprises 5,324 households and girls living in the regions of Assaba, Guidimagha, Hodh Charghy et Hodh Gharby.
The information gathered from the survey may aid decision makers in the formulation of economic and social policies to:
- reduce fertility and child marriage by improving access to contraceptive methods and improving reproductive health knowledge.
- foster women’s empowerment through enhancing their access to economic activities.
The survey can be an important source of information for planners to know how to improve the quality of people's living standards, in particular women’s living conditions. The Ministry of Social Affairs, Children and Families and the Ministry of National Education of Mauritania would benefit from the data of this survey, together with other public organizations working on girls and women empowerment and reproductive health. District Authorities, Research Institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations and the general public will also benefit from the survey data.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Households, individuals
Version
Edited, anonymous dataset for public distribution.
2025-06-18
Coverage
Four regions of Mauritania : Assaba, Guidimagha, Hodh Charghy et Hodh Gharby.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Markus Olapade | Center for Evaluation and Development |
| Sié Mohamed Barro | Center for Evaluation and Development |
| Estelle Koussoubé | World Bank |
| Léa Rouanet | World Bank |
| Claire Boxho | World Bank |
| Name |
|---|
| The World Bank |
| The Government of Mauritania |
Sampling
The study was conducted in 74 localities and 55 secondary schools in the regions of de Assaba, Guidimagha, Hodh Charghy et Hodh Gharby. The sampling procedure involves several steps to ensure comprehensive coverage of the target populations. For the Ministry of National Education (MEN), 55 eligible secondary schools located in the chief towns of communes have been identified. The census is conducted in these chief towns and surrounding localities where students reside. In localities with fewer than 400 households, the entire locality is surveyed. In larger localities, the survey is conducted in the enumeration zones containing the schools and one or two adjacent zones. For the Ministry of Social Affairs, Childhood and Family (MASEF), the program targets chief towns of communes not part of the "Tekavoul" program and excludes chief towns of Mougataa and Wilaya. In chief towns with fewer than 400 households, the entire town is surveyed, while in larger towns, the two enumeration zones with the highest number of women are surveyed. The MASEF safe spaces target women aged 15 to 29 who are out of school or never attended school, from households with the lowest socio-economic scores based on durable goods, access to basic infrastructure, and housing characteristics. Similarly, the MEN safe spaces target school-going girls from households with the lowest scores. The scholarship program involves individual randomization of girls sampled for MEN safe spaces, forming two groups: one receiving scholarships (1084 girls) and the other not receiving scholarships (1080 girls). This systematic approach ensures a thorough evaluation of the project's impact across different regions and target populations.
The objective of the baseline survey was to build a comprehensive dataset, which would serve as a reference point for the entire sample, before treatment and control assignment and program implementation.
Survey instrument
The data consists of responses from households to questions pertaining to:
- List of household members
- Education and employment of household members
- Characteristics of housing and durable goods
- Chocs and food security
- Household head's aspirations for their children
- Attitudes on women's empowerment and gender equality
The questionnaire administrated to girls contains the following sections:
- Education
- Marriage and children
- Aspirations
- Reproductive health and family planning
- Psycho-social
- Women's empowerment
- Gender-based violence
- Income-generating activities
- Savings and credits
- Personal relationships and social networks
- Migration
The household questionnaire was administered to the head of the household or to an authorized person capable of answering questions about all individuals in the household. The adolescent questionnaire was administered to an eligible pre-selected girl within the household. Considering the modules of the adolescent questionnaire, it was only administered by female enumerators. The questionnaires were written in French and programmed on tablets in French using the CAPI program.
Data collection
| Start | End | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-06 | 2018-08 | Baseline |
- Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]
The main mode of data collection was the use of a structured questionnaire. The respondent was provided with coded answers from which to choose. These questionnaires were administered by enumerators who visited the homes of the participating households at a time convenient for the respondents.
Depositor information
| Name |
|---|
| World Bank Africa Gender Innovation Lab |
Data Access
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Example:
Markus Olapade (Center for Evaluation and Development), Sié Mohamed Barro (Center for Evaluation and Development), Estelle Koussoubé (World Bank), Léa Rouanet (World Bank), Claire Boxho (World Bank). Mauritania - Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Initiative Impact Evaluation - Baseline Survey, 2018 ( MRT SWEDD BL 2018). Ref: MRT_2018_SWEDDIE-BL_v01_M. Downloaded from [uri] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Metadata production
DDI_MRT_2018_SWEDDIE-BL_v01_M_WB
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Development Data Group | DECDG | World Bank | Documentation of the study |
2025-07-10
Metadata version
Version 01 (2025-07-10)