peer effects could operate through multiple channels for instance women may exhibit greater confidence when they are in a more supportive environment or peers may help women attain their goals by providing support after the training is over there was also evidence that the positive impacts of training with a friend were stronger among women from religious or caste groups with social norms that restrict female mobility they should also incorporate financial education into other initiatives where women are likely to be the main beneficiaries such as conditional financial transfers to improve women s financial independence evidence from developing countries word bank policy research working paper no identifying complementary effects of financial education on migrant households world bank policy research working paper no american economic journal economic policy vol