Medium term Impacts of the Family Dialogue Pilot on Children’s Wellbeing and Violence in the Household

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Hazel

Government of Mauritania and the World Bank implemented the Family Dialogue pilot within Tekavoul, a national cash transfer program, combining couples’ training with community-level edutainment via a five-episode mini-fiction series. The study follows 2022–2024 and targets changes in gender norms, child wellbeing, parenting practices, and intimate partner violence. A rigorous impact evaluation by Africa Gender Innovation Lab assesses three treatment combinations using short- and medium-term outcome measurements.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Policy Note on the Medium term Impacts of the Family Dialogue Pilot

Description of the interventions

The social protection program ‘Tekavoul’

Couple’s training

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Policy Note Medium term Impacts of the Family Dialogue Pilot on Children’s Wellbeing and Violence in the Household Jean-Noel BaƟobo*, Tara Bedi†, Ludovic Bequet*, Claire Boxho* and Julia Vaillant* October 20242 IntroducƟon The government of Mauritania and the World Bank collaborated to implement a Family Dialogue pilot that targets the recipients of Tekavoul, the naƟonal cash transfer program, and combines a couple’s training and community-level edutainment through the screening of a mini-ﬁcƟon series. The program, which took place from 2022 to 2024, centers on a couples’ intervenƟon aimed at changing gender norms through the engagement of husbands. The core training consists of six sessions aimed at strengthening economic cooperaƟon within the couple. It includes sessions on how to strengthen ﬁnancial management skills through beƩer understanding of planning and budgeƟng, communicaƟon skills, and the sharing of responsibiliƟes through acƟviƟes on Ɵme use and gendered roles and responsibiliƟes. A 12-session variaƟon of the training extends the core version to broaden the range of topics covered to include issues of violence, intra-spousal power dynamics, conﬂict management, gender roles and norms, and parenƟng. The couples’ training is complemented by a community-wide intervenƟon to examine to what extent changing norms at the community level can support individual level behavioral change. The community intervenƟon consists in the showing of a 5-episode mini-series (“Harmony”) that display, in a ﬁcƟonal seƫ ng, behavioral changes consistent with the couple’s training. A rigorous impact evaluaƟon lead by the Africa Gender InnovaƟon Lab (GIL) is ongoing to measure the eﬀects of three diﬀerent combinaƟons of the program: (i) receiving the core 6 sessions, (ii) receiving the core 6 sessions and the community-level edutainment intervenƟon; (iii) receiving the 12 sessions and the community-level edutainment intervenƟon. *World Bank; †Trinity College of London 2 This report was prepared as a deliverable for the Rapid Social Response, AdapƟve and Dynamic Social ProtecƟon Umbrella Trust Fund Program, Round 21. Policy Note on the Medium term Impacts ofthe Family Dialogue Pilot This report presents intermediate impacts of the Family Dialogue pilot on outcomes related to children’swellbeing and parenƟng pracƟces, using two rounds of data collecƟons: one for short-term eﬀects (3 months post 6 modules) and one for medium-term eﬀects (18 months post 6 modules) . The report aims to respond to the following research quesƟon: What is the eﬀect of a gender-transformaƟve program on children‘s wellbeing and intra-household conﬂict, in the context of a naƟonal social protecƟon system targeƟng vulnerable households? To respond to this quesƟon, we exploit quanƟtaƟve and qualitaƟve data on a range of outcomes including school aƩendance, child development, knowledge on child development, parenƟng pracƟces, parental aspiraƟons and aƫtudes, and experience of InƟmate Partner Violence (IPV) . The remainder of this report is organized as follow: SecƟon 2 describes the intervenƟons piloted in the Family Dialogue, and the theory of change; SecƟon 3 details the impact evaluaƟon design, implementaƟon Ɵ meline and data sources; SecƟon 4 presents the results from both quanƟtaƟve and qualitaƟve data; SecƟon 5 concludes. 2. DescripƟon of the intervenƟons 2.1. The social protecƟon program ‘Tekavoul’ The Tekavoul Social Transfer Program combines regular cash transfers with social promoƟon acƟviƟes aimed at improving essenƟal nutriƟon and health pracƟces and enhancing household resilience. This approach recognizes that poverty hampers future planning, negaƟvely aﬀecƟng cogniƟve and execuƟve funcƟons. By providing cash support and promoƟng social acƟviƟes, the program helps poor households gain knowledge and adopt beƩer pracƟces. The program provides cash transfers to households idenƟ

FAQs

What is the Family Dialogue pilot and who does it target?

It is a gender-transformative program under Tekavoul that targets Tekavoul recipients and involves couples, engaging husbands to shift gender norms.

What training content is included for couples?

The core version uses six sessions on intra-household economic cooperation, financial management, communication, and sharing responsibilities, with a 12-session variation extending to violence, power dynamics, conflict management, gender norms, and parenting.

How does the community-level edutainment intervention work?

It uses a five-episode mini-series (“Harmony”) shown to the community, depicting in a fictional setting behavioral changes consistent with the couples’ training.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Hazel