cope with the emergencies that arise all too often.<sup>20</sup> To facilitate successful coping and provide a safe place to save, the EPAG program assisted each participant to set up a savings account at a local bank if she did not already have one. Table 5 presents midline survey results that indicate that the treatment group were nearly 50 percentage points more likely to have savings than the control group, and were saving on average LD 2500 (nearly US$35) more than the control group. EPAG graduates were also twice as likely as the control group to have outstanding loans (six percent v. three percent), and have loans from formal lenders (five percent v. two percent),<sup>21</sup> although the overall rate of obtaining credit remains extremely low.

# 4.3. Empowerment

The Adolescent Girls’ Initiative is based on the hypothesis that livelihood and life skills training for young women will improve their lives in more than just narrowly-defined economic dimensions. In addition, evidence is increasing that these soft skills are also essential for success in employment (Borghans et al. 2008). Surveys of employers consistently find that more than hard, technical skills, employers value these harder-to-quantify skills of honesty and integrity, problem-solving ability, work ethic, communication skills, the ability to work productively with others, responsibility and dependability (Blom and Hobbs 2007). The AGI program has focused on the development and measurement of these softer attributes that matter for employment as well as those that matter more to the individual, such as self-confidence and empowerment. Despite the challenges of measuring such subjective outcomes, the survey instruments included panels of questions designed to elucidate a nuanced picture of the personality and psychosocial characteristics that are most relevant for labor market success.

Table 6A presents results on empowerment and decision-making. The first series of questions have to do with control over resources, spending decisions and earnings. Respondents were asked how much control they had over how to spend their own earnings; also, whether they had money of their own for basic uses that they alone could decide how to use, without having to ask for permission. The EPAG baseline survey found that respondents reported a high degree of control over resources even before the program started. Because of this, the program impacts on control over resources were small, albeit statistically significant: 80 percent of respondents at baseline said they controlled their own resources, with a seven percentage point increase for the treatment group (relative to control). Similarly, 80 percent of those engaged in income-generating activities said that they controlled the money they earned. The midline results indicated that among the treatment group, this had increased by roughly eight percentage points. As shown in the second panel, EPAG graduates report that they worry less than those in the control group. They are less likely to worry about their jobs or incomes or that they won’t be able to pay for basic necessities, and those with partners are less worried about their relationships breaking up. The impact on subjective well-being, as measured by a series of questions about the respondent’s satisfaction with various dimensions on her life, indicate that EPAG was most

> 20 See for example Ashraf et. al. (2010);  Morcos and Sebstad (2010);  and Austrian and Ghati (2010).

> 21 “Formal” loans are those from banks, credit groups, susu, or money lenders; “informal loans” are those from parents, friends, relatives, or business partners.

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