PRMGE and HNP Joint-Seminar

1. PRMGE and HNP Joint-Seminar gender equality as smart economics A World Bank Group Gender Action Plan How effective are family-planning programs at improving the lives of women? Some perspectives from a vast literature Presenter Shareen Joshi teaches international economic development at the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Her research focuses on issues of population, family structure and economic development. Her recent papers have looked at the impact of fertility decline on the well-being of families in Bangladesh, the differences in child survival across religious groups of India, the economic rationales for cousin-marriages in rural South Asia, and the impact of migration and widowhood on the well-being of children in these settings. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 2005. Discussant Martha Ainsworth is Adviser to the Director of Public Sector Evaluation at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). Until 2009, she was Lead Economist and Coordinator for Health and Education Evaluation in IEG and in that capacity led major evaluations of World Bank support for Health, Nutrition, and Population and HIV/AIDS, and conducted a critical review of lessons from nutrition impact evaluations. Prior to joining IEG in 2001, she worked in DEC and the Africa Technical Department conducting research on the economic impact of AIDS – in particular on children and the elderly -- and on the economic and policy determinants of fertility and contraceptive use in Sub-Saharan Africa. She co-authored the World Bank Policy Research Report, Confronting AIDS: Public Priorities in a Global Epidemic (1997), and was on the core team of the World Development Report 1984 on population and development. She holds a Master’s Degree in international studies from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in economics from Yale University. Chair Dominique van de Walle is a Lead Economist in the World Bank's Gender and Development Group. She holds a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Ph. D. in economics from the Australian National University, and began her career at the Bank as a member of the core team that produced the 1990 World Development Report on Poverty. Her research interests are in the general area of poverty and public policy, encompassing rural development, infrastructure (rural roads and water), poverty and women's labor force participation, impact evaluation and safety nets. The bulk of her recent research has been on Vietnam. June 14, 2010 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. JB1 – 080