Building Evidence for Sustainable Livelihoods
Africa's demographic dividend - a young, growing workforce - is either the continent's greatest opportunity or its greatest challenge. D4Act evaluates programs that create jobs, build entrepreneurship, and strengthen social protection systems.
Africa's Youth Employment Challenge
By 2030, Africa will be home to the world's largest working-age population. The African Development Bank estimates that the continent needs to create 12 million new formal jobs annually just to absorb new labor market entrants - yet current job creation rates fall far short of this target. Addressing this gap requires rigorous evidence on which employment and livelihoods interventions actually work.
D4Act evaluates vocational training programs, youth entrepreneurship initiatives, microfinance interventions, cash transfer programs, and labor market information systems. We use experimental and quasi-experimental methods to identify which approaches create lasting economic impact - not just short-term placement numbers.
"Africa's youth bulge is not inherently an asset or a threat - it is what we do with evidence-based policy that determines the outcome. Without rigorous evaluation, billions are spent on employment programs with no proof they work."
- D4Act Livelihoods PracticeKey Focus Areas
Youth Employment & Entrepreneurship
Evaluating skills training programs, startup incubators, and apprenticeship models. Our evaluations track not just job placement rates but earnings growth, job quality, and enterprise survival over 12-24 months post-program.
Microfinance & Financial Inclusion
Assessing the impact of savings groups, mobile money, and microcredit programs on household welfare. Evidence shows that bundled financial services - savings + credit + insurance + financial literacy - produce stronger outcomes than standalone products.
Social Protection & Cash Transfers
Evaluating conditional and unconditional cash transfer programs, public works schemes, and social safety nets. Global evidence increasingly shows that cash transfers can be among the most cost-effective anti-poverty interventions - D4Act is building the African-specific evidence base.
Women's Economic Empowerment
Evaluating programs targeting women's participation in labor markets, female entrepreneurship, and gender-responsive social protection. Research shows that investing in women's economic agency produces multiplier effects across health, education, and nutrition outcomes.
Our Livelihoods Approach
Our end-to-end methodology - from initial assessment to sustainable impact.
Frequently asked questions
How do you measure livelihoods outcomes beyond income?
Multi-dimensional indicators - income diversification, savings behaviour, asset accumulation, food security (HFIAS / IPC), women's empowerment (WEAI / pro-WEAI) and psychosocial wellbeing - tied to a written theory of change. Single-indicator readings (income alone) miss the resilience dimensions that funders increasingly require for portfolio decisions.
Can you evaluate cash-transfer or graduation programmes?
Yes - this is a core area. We design RCT and quasi-experimental evaluations of unconditional and conditional cash transfers, savings groups (VSLA, SILC), mobile-money interventions and graduation-style programmes, anchored in the published evidence base (BRAC graduation cluster, GiveDirectly, J-PAL ultra-poor evidence).
How do you handle gender, equity and intersectional analysis?
All evaluations are designed for gender-disaggregated and intersectional analysis from inception. We use the WEAI / pro-WEAI for women's empowerment, the Washington Group Short Set for disability, and stratify by age, geography and socio-economic quintile. Effect heterogeneity is reported alongside average treatment effects, not as a footnote.
How do you measure resilience to shocks?
We combine FAO RIMA-II resilience indices with exposure data (drought, conflict, market shocks) and behavioural coping indicators. For programmes operating in fragile or conflict-affected settings we add safety-net protocols: local conflict-sensitivity reviews, alternative data collection in inaccessible areas and adaptive-management dashboards that flag when assumptions break.