“The [childcare] service made it difficult to have any excuse for missing class.”<sup>23</sup> In terms of empowerment, the most striking finding concerned the participants’ aspirations and visions for the future that seemed to spring from their participation in EPAG. Far from being content with the vocations in which they were being trained, the participants expressed repeatedly their goal to use these vocations as a “stepping stone” to higher goals, citing professions such as medicine, business, nursing, and politics. The trainees appeared to understand fully that these professions would require formal education; many girls stated their primary goal in pursuing employment was to save money to be able to return to formal education. Although educational enrolment was not detected as a significant impact in the quantitative survey (at midline, the treatment group was not more likely to be enrolled in school, including night school, than the control group), the high aspirations of both the treatment and control groups, consistent with the qualitative results, is apparent in their positive responses on the question regarding their perceived ability to return to school (Table 6B). Other qualitative findings related to empowerment, particularly with regard to self-confidence and improved social skills, were extremely positive, consistent with the findings of the quantitative work.

# 4.4. Fertility and Personal Behaviors

Fertility in Liberia is among the highest in the world, although it has declined from a total fertility rate of more than six children per woman in 1990 to 5.2 in 2010. Observed fertility has many underlying determinants including biological and behavioral factors (e.g., frequency of intercourse, contraceptive use) as well as economic and social factors (e.g., norms, opportunity costs, and access to family planning). Although reducing fertility was not a primary objective of EPAG, the program did include a strong focus on the empowerment and independence of young women to exert control over their lives, as well as lessons on reproductive health and family planning methods. The interrelated nature of young women’s reproductive health decisions and the economic conditions in which they live is well established in the public health literature, with poverty being a significant risk factor for risky sexual behavior (Dunbar 2010, Ssewamala 2010). Table 7 explores outcomes related to fertility and sexual behaviors. The first outcome concerns the desired number of children, which was roughly 3.5 at baseline among both the treatment and control groups, with no significant change between baseline and midline.

In spite of the lack of impact on desired fertility, the EPAG program does appear to have an impact on realized fertility. We use three outcomes to explore fertility: whether or not the respondent currently has at least one living child, the number of children she has, and whether or not she is currently pregnant at the time of her interview. For the first outcome, the basic specification yields a significant decline of four percentage points. However, this basic specification may include a purely mechanical result because the control group was more likely to be pregnant at baseline (ten percent compared to six percent among the treatment group, as shown in Table 2). The second specification interacts treatment with an indicator for not being pregnant at baseline. This regression yields a smaller two percentage point reduction in the likelihood of being a mother. The impact on number of children further elucidates this finding. Among those women who have at least one child already, there are no

> 23 Exit Poll Report from Round 1. SBA and GOPA consultants. December 2010.

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