Fair Trade, Labour Markets, and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia
Project Information
Principal Investigators : Jose Galdo and Ana C. Dammert
Project Coordination: Assefa Admassie and Degnet Abebaw - Ethiopian Economic Policy Research
Funding: IZA/DFID Growth and Labour Markets in Low Income Countries
About this Project
Ethiopia is one of the poorest economies in the world and the biggest producer of coffee in East Africa. Coffee is a vital cash crop for the country’s socioeconomic development as it represents a major source of livelihood for over 15 million people and a major source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. Over 95 percent of the country’s total coffee output is produced by smallholder coffee growers, yet smallholder coffee production is still characterized by low productivity. The overall objective of this research program is therefore to provide evidence, analysis, and insights on the key constraints to and the promising policy choices for agricultural development with particular focus on women and Fairtrade markets.
Our research program implemented two separate field interventions. The first intervention is related to the measurement of child labor in coffee farms with a particular focus on gender effects. The experimental design allows measuring the impact of the type of respondent (self vs proxy) on child labor statistics. Results can be found in the working paper (GLM|LIC Working Paper Series No. 43), and the policy brief (GLM|LIC Policy Brief No. 23). The latest version of the paper can be found here.
The second field intervention assesses whether facilitating formal savings among coffee grower households can promote agricultural development. We implemented a savings and financial awareness intervention to facilitate access to formal saving accounts among agricultural households in rural Ethiopia.
Further research on Female Labour Markets, Agricultural Production, and Women's Empowerment is under development.
May – June 2015: Workshop on Fairtrade Constraints and Opportunities
We organized a workshop on Fairtrade Constraints and Possibilities on June of 2015 in Addis Ababa to discuss the purpose of the envisaged research project with coffee farmers’ representatives, cooperative managers, and Woreda cooperatives promotion experts. Jose Galdo (principal researcher) took the leading role in this consultation process.
December 2018: 2nd Workshop on Fairtrade, Women Empowerment and Labour Markets
We organized a second workshop on Fairtrade Constraints and Possibilities on December of 2018 in Addis Ababa to discuss the main research findings with the main stakeholders (e.g., coffee farmers’ representatives, Fairtrade cooperative managers, cooperatives promotion experts, policy makers). Jose Galdo (principal researcher) presented the results in Addis Ababa.
Data Access
Access is only provided through research contracts. Data access is restricted to universities and research institutes or individual researchers. Please contact the authors from an institutional email stating the purpose of your research to get access to the replication data.
Related Publications
Dammert, A., and J. Galdo (2021) Assessing Adult Farm Labor Statistics: Evidence from a Survey Design Experiment in Ethiopia. Economics Letters, Volume 203
Galdo, J. Dammert, A., and D. Abebaw (2021) Gender Bias in Agricultural Child Labor: Evidence from Survey Design Experiments. World Bank Economic Review, 35(4):872-891.
Working Paper
Galdo, J. (2021) " Using Bank Savings Product Design for Empowering Women and Agricultural Development," IZA Discussion Papers 14523, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)