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The study seeks to analyze the effect of women's empowerment on household food security in northern Ghana. Employing Random Effect and Generalized Estimating Equations on the two rounds of Feed the Future dataset, 2012 and 2015, the study measured women empowerment as the comparative years of schooling and decision making by women. Multivariate Decomposition was used to explain whether variations in food insecurity between gendered household types are due to differences in explained and/or unexplained variations. The study showed significant differences in food insecurity levels between male and female headed households. The finding revealed that improving women decision making at the household level will reduce food insecurity by 45%. The study therefore recommends that Ministry of Gender, Children and Social protection should educate male partners on the need for women's decision making and also ensure the establishment of social groups for women.

While education is recognized as a fundamental human right and an important factor in improving economic and social conditions, child schooling rates in Burundi show that there are still children of school-age who are not attending school and those who drop out very prematurely. This scientific study aims to highlight the relationship between household size and access to education in Mutaho commune (rural Burundi) by documenting the socio-demographic factors of the head of household likely to influence the schooling status of children aged 7-17. The hypothesis put forward in this study is that children's schooling is influenced by household size. Data from a survey of 215 households in the Mutaho commune were analyzed using binomial logistic regression. The analysis shows that a large household size (OR = 5.463; p < 0.05; 95% CI: 1.311-22.771) is negatively associated with the education of children aged 7-17 living in Mutaho commune. Reducing fertility should be an integral concern for all those involved in the fields of population, education, and development.

Using data from the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and the Family Life Cycle (FLC) and Human Capital Theory (HCT) as a framework, this study examined if factors related to the likelihood of financial ratio adequacy and financial well-being differ for Hispanic and non-Hispanic White households. Hispanics' comprehensive financial well-being was assessed with three ratios: Liquidity, solvency, and investments/assets. Results of logistic regressions with 612 Hispanic and 4,481 non-Hispanic headed households show that FLC and HCT factors are associated with financial ratios differently between two race/ethnicity groups. For Hispanic households, age is positively related to adequate investment/assets ratio and financial well-being; education is positively related to adequate investment/assets but negatively related to adequate solvency. Implications for practitioners working with Hispanics are discussed.

The current study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a vocational guidance program in improving vocational awareness toward handicrafts among female breadwinners. Also, it aimed to understand the impact of the vocational guidance program on the attitude toward life among female breadwinners as well as community service through training on handicrafts. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researchers used the scale of vocational awareness toward handicrafts (prepared by the researchers), and the scale of attitude towards life (Ma'shi, 2018). The questionnaires were applied to a sample of (15) female breadwinners who benefit from the services of the Social Development Association in Najran. The data were statistically processed using the Z-value test and Wilcoxon test. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in favor of the posttest after implementing the program both at the level of vocational awareness or attitude towards life. The study recommended directing workers in charitable associations like social development associations to benefit from and support the program used in the study to expand its implementation in all charitable associations. Also, there is a need to pay attention to handicrafts to develop the skills of community members and help them enter the labor market as productive individuals for their families and society and the optimal investment for community development associations. This can be achieved through holding seminars, training courses and awareness programs that aim to positively move toward community development. In turn, this development contributes to supporting female breadwinners to engage in the labor market and adapt to life in general by establishing partnerships with various parties such as education departments, universities and training centers to provide these programs.

Local wisdom contained in the Sasak community needs to be continuously preserved and become a local value or tradition that is believed to be true until now. The development of forms of local Sasak wisdom in this study is integrated into the concept of family economic education, especially in educating children from elementary school age. This study aims to describe and formulate the financial literacy education models based on local wisdom for 7-12 years old in Sasak tribe. This case study applied an exploratory-descriptive qualitative research method. Participants in the study were selected through random sampling and snowball methods, which consisted of 630 families with children aged of 7-12 years old, and 177 children whom fathers and mothers are the Sasak aristocrats' descendants is Suradadi Village of East Lombok West Nusa Tenggara. Data were collected through interview, observation, and documentation techniques and analyzed through content and comparative analyses. Research results indicated five financial literacy education models based on Sasak's local wisdom provided since children are at the age of 7-12 years old. "First," incorporating "Itiq" (spending money wisely) behavior to children, "second," incorporating "Genem" (persevering in financial management and making financial plans), "third," incorporating "Penunah" (appreciating the resources owned) to children, "fourth," incorporating "Semaik-maik" (frugality/not using resources excessively, money in particular) to children, and "fifth," incorporating "Saling peliwat" (mutual assistance) to children. Various financial literacy education models are implemented by parents of the Sasak tribe with not only one strategy but mixed, such as role modeling, habituation, having dinner together, discussions, direct and indirect advice through Sasak's proverbs.

The article focuses on the school-based support that youths who are heading households get from public schools in South Africa. It is based on the study that was conducted focusing on the extent to which schools support youths who head households. The study adopted the qualitative research methodological approach where three methods were used to construct data. The three methods used are observation, semi structured interviews and documents. Eight children from four public schools were selected as participants in the study. Data constructed was analyzed by using the Thematic Content Analysis approach. The findings reveal that youths who head households are faced with challenges that include among others, economic constraints, lack of resources, and humiliation. Furthermore, they do not get the necessary support from schools. The article argues that lack of support by schools adds to the challenges that children are confronted with in their daily struggle for survival.

In India, the National Education Policy 2020 recommends ensuring universal access to high-quality early childhood care and education for children aged 3-6 years by 2030. Using the 75th round of National Statistical Office data (2017-2018), this paper analyses the regional and socioeconomic inequalities in access to pre-primary education. Also, we investigate the specific role of households' economic status and educational attainment in explaining these inequalities. We find considerable regional (rural/urban) and socioeconomic inequalities in access to pre-primary education in India, with girls and children belonging to historically disadvantaged social groups (scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) less likely to attend early childhood education, particularly in rural areas. We find that a substantial portion of the rural-urban gap in access to pre-primary education can be removed by controls for households' economic condition and household head's educational status. In addition, we find gender and socioeconomic inequalities in the household investment in early years education. These findings highlight the need to put policy efforts and commitments to reducing barriers to accessing pre-primary education for children in disadvantaged conditions in India.

Fair distribution of educational opportunities among people means that individuals' access to education doesn't depend on conditions beyond their control such as social class, religion, gender, place of birth or other parental characteristics. This paper addresses the issue of inequality of educational opportunities for pre-university education in Egypt using Human Opportunity Index, based on the data of the Income, Expenditure and Consumption Survey 2014/2015 implemented by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. The paper also uses a logistic regression technique to assess the factors that affect children's educational enrolment. The paper presents several results, the most important one is that primary education in Egypt is fair and equal if compared to preparatory and secondary education in terms of providing educational services. The results of the Logistic Regression (LR) model show that there are many significant variables that affect children's school enrolment i.e. the educational level of the household head and the place of residence.

Background: This article draws on social constructionism to explore vulnerable boys' constructions of gender within three primary schools in Swaziland. Objectives: It seeks to understand the ways in which vulnerable boys make meaning of masculinities and the implications of these on their social and academic well-being in schools. Method: The study adopted a qualitative narrative inquiry methodology, utilising individual and focus group semi-structured interviews and a participatory photovoice technique as its methods of data generation. The participants comprised 15 purposively selected vulnerable boys -- orphaned boys, those from child-headed households and from poor socio-economic backgrounds, aged between 11 and 16 years. Results: The findings denote that vulnerable boys constructed their masculinities through heterosexuality where the normative discourse was that they provide for girls in heterosexual relationships. The vulnerable boys' socio-economic status rendered them unable to fulfil these obligations. Failure to fulfil the provider role predisposed vulnerable boys to ridicule and humiliation. However, some vulnerable boys adopted caring attitudes as they constructed alternative masculinities. Conclusion: The study recommends the need to affirm and promote alternative masculinities as a strategy for enhancing gender-inclusive and equitable schooling experiences for vulnerable boys.

Data were collected from heads of households across Bhutan to gain insights regarding children with disabilities up to 18 years in Bhutan. Fieldwork was conducted by local enumerators, trained by researchers from the UK who analysed and interpreted the data. Results indicate that whilst there are largely positive attitudes towards children with disabilities in Bhutan, the majority of respondents conceptualized disability narrowly and were pessimistic about such children's ability to lead full lives. Households including children with disabilities were less positive than others concerning the ways in which children are regarded and supported in their communities. Fatalistic views related to beliefs in karma were noted and influenced expectations regarding what children with disabilities might achieve. More positive attitudes are held by younger people and those more highly educated. Attitudes and expectations have had a negative effect in restricting access to educational and social inclusion for many children with disabilities.

This study investigated the experiences and coping strategies of adolescent girl learners from child-headed families in the Shiselweni region of Swaziland. Forty (40) girls whose ages ranged from 13-18 years were participants in the study and were selected through purposive sampling in five selected rural schools. Data were collected on the experiences and coping strategies of adolescent girl learners through focus group discussions and individual interviews. The data were thematically analysed. The findings suggest that these girls experience lack of food security, poverty and strained extended family relations. The girls have also shown resilience despite their adversities which they indicated have been achieved through family unity, prayer and church support as coping strategies.

Food insecurity (FI) is often assessed through experienced-based measures, which address the number and extent of coping strategies people employ. Coping indices are limited because, methodologically, they presuppose that people engage coping strategies uniformly. Ethnographic work suggests that subgroups experience FI quite differently, meaning that coping strategies might also vary within a population. Thus, whether people actually agree on FI coping behaviors is an open question. This article describes methods used to test whether there was a culturally agreed on set of coping behaviors around FI in rural Brazilian majority-female heads of household, and to detect patterned subgroup variation in that agreement. We used cultural consensus and residual agreement analyses on freelist and rating exercise data. This process could be applied as a first step in developing experience-based measures of FI sensitive to intragroup variation, or to identify key variables to guide qualitative analyses.

Parental educational support plays a significant role in the educational success of learners. Research has emphasised the important role of father involvement in educational achievement; however, little is known about how educational support is understood within marginalised contexts such as female-headed households, especially where fathers are absent or largely uninvolved in the lives of children. This article presents the perspectives of six adolescents in a South African community who reflect on what father involvement means to them in relation to educational support. Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were conducted with the participants to discuss their experiences. We use feminist theory to highlight the informal and non-traditional forms of support that are present in these female-headed households. The data were analysed by means of thematic content analysis. The findings revealed that all the adolescents had complex and deeply personal perspectives on the role a father could play in their lives, and that these views often contrasted with dominant stereotypes of female-headed households as inherently inferior. Although all the adolescents showed a desire for a relationship with a biological father, in some cases the influence of a father was framed as detrimental to the family unit and the educational success of the adolescents. These findings have implications for how schools and educational stakeholders can understand and engage with adolescents and families in female-headed households.

The role of spirituality in families is an important factor in family resilience. Currently, however, no quantitative instruments exist that adequately assess this phenomenon. This study introduced the adapted Spiritual Perspective Scale-Family Version (SPS-FV) and explored its psychometric qualities among 574 majority ethnic minority individuals living in public housing. Structural equation modeling analyses supported a two-dimensional structure (shared spiritual beliefs, shared spiritual behaviors), and the results supported the SPS-FV as a useful tool in assessing perceptions of family spirituality. Family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals can enhance their work in low-income, ethnic minority communities by using the SPS-FV as a means to support individuals and families in identifying family spirituality as a significant resource in individual and family resilience.

There is insufficient literature and research that has problematised the use of the phenomenon of child-headed households (CHHs), that is, to find out if it is an acceptable term to use, if it is really a problem, and whether it needs solutions. Hence, the purpose of this study was to problematise the use of the term CHH, taking the theories of Freire and Foucault into consideration. This generic qualitative study consisted of a sample of 16 experts who worked with children from CHH. Data were collected through a questionnaire and individual telephonic interviews with the experts identified. The findings indicate that, for several reasons, the current use of the term CHH is acceptable and is a problem that has to be taken seriously by the relevant stakeholders. In light of the findings, the author emphasises the importance of recognising the capacity of children from CHH to actively participate in early childhood interventions geared to improve their social environments.

Purpose: This study explores female-headed households in Grand Bassa, Lofa and Nimba counties to discern Liberia's smallholding, subsistence agriculture. Amid environmental and communal dynamics, addressing factors causing challenges of farming is imperative. Methodology: Using explanatory sequential methods this study collects, explains, and organizes farming and household situations qualitatively through field notes, observations, and extensive communications with 44 female farmers. Subsequently and quantitatively, Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) verifies aforementioned information, accompanied by 112 observations. Findings: Stories encapsulate female farmers in Grand Bassa, Lofa, and Nimba counties. They provide evidence of marginalized, progressive, and emerging farming in order. Children (n > 3) and inadequate support of Kuu (informal labor) and of community make food stability, availability and access insecure. Insufficient crop revenue further exacerbates the issues. Moderate- and mild food-insecure households need not worry about the problems above. However, their earnings notwithstanding, new challenges appear in credit practices and land conflict. Practical Implications: Extension agents should provide timely services for each community, with special attention to women-headed households. Findings imply ex-post evaluations to ex-ante extension services should be cyclical. Theoretical Implications: A gender-inclusive, gender-sensitive framework is vital to enhance food security and community resilience, transform subsistence agriculture into agribusiness and achieve fairness, gender equity and social justice for agrarian Liberians -- especially women and children. Originality/Value: This study captures distinctive phases of farming and family life -- yielding qualitative and subsequent quantitative validation of predictors of food insecurity in rural, women-headed farming households/operations. It should guide us to tailor ex-ante extension services.

This paper examines the role of sociodemographic characteristics on non-traditional mature freshmen higher education dropout rates. One of Chile's largest higher education institutions, which has an important number of mature students from more deprived social sectors, was used as a case study. A quantitative methodology was applied, based on the estimation of logistic regression models, where freshmen dropout rates were defined as the dependent variable and three types of independent variable were considered: family/demographic conditions, socio-economic situation and institutional structures. The results indicate that students who are parents, have a job, are not the heads of their households, are enrolled in longer programmes and who attended adult high school are more likely to drop out of higher education during their first year of study. Suggestions for institutional practices to better integrate mature students into higher education are discussed.

Education is widely accepted as the main backbone of growth and development of individuals and the nation. However, its achievement continues to elude many who are poverty stricken. Government of Kenya introduced free primary education in 2003 and tuition free secondary education in 2008. It is estimated that about 3 millions children are not enrolled in primary schools. For the children who enrolled in grade one, only between 46-48% can manage to complete the final grade and transition rate remained below 50%. The study was envisaged to look at interdependence between education and households' poverty levels and its influence in internal efficiency of primary schools in Kenya. Descriptive research method which primary concerns with the present, past events and influences as they relate to the current conditions was employed. The study used survey research design. The sample size of the study was 468 respondents, comprising 360 household heads, 12 head teachers and 96 class teachers. Simple random and purposive sampling design was used. Four instruments were developed and used to collect data: Questionnaires for the households' heads and class teachers, school data form and interviews. Data were analyzed with the help of SPSS computer programme (11.5). Household poverty levels were determined by use of poverty indexes developed by Greer and Thorbecke (1986). National poverty line of Kenya shillings (Ksh) 1562 developed by the government of Kenya in 2005/06 was adopted. Schools internal efficiency was determine with the help of educational statistical indicators developed by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2009). Further to establish the relationship and test the hypotheses statistically, Pearson product moment correlation test was adopted. Findings of the study were presented by use of tables and figures. The study revealed that Kwanza district had 43.3% of the households living above the poverty line, and 56.7% of them operating below the poverty line. In the period 2004-2009 the dropout rate in Kwanza district schools ranged from 6.3 to 25.6%. The study also revealed that household's poverty level had a significant relationship with majority of the school internal efficiency measures which included repetition, dropout, survival rate, cohort wastage, academic achievement and transition rate. The study implication among others was that the government should take the key responsibility of preparing data base of the poor families in the district and develop a credit cum-subsidy scheme that will provide financial support in terms of loans to the disadvantage group.

The purpose of the current study was to develop a multi-indicator construct of economic hardship among adolescents with disabilities (N = 9,230) participating in the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, the largest, most comprehensive investigation of adolescents with disabilities ever conducted. Five theoretically relevant indicators (i.e., family income, head-of-household education, head-of-household employment, participation in social programs, and lack of resources) contributed to the formation of an economic hardship latent construct. Scores on this factor were validated through associations with demographic, tangible-resource, school, and family factors. The implications of these findings for continued efforts to understand and respond to economic hardship among adolescents with disabilities are discussed.

Using Nepal Living Standard Survey (NLSS 2003/04), this paper attempts to explore find the differences in education between men and women in urban and rural Nepal. Result shows that the urban populations have higher education compared to rural. Average years of schooling in urban Nepal were more than two times for both men and women; the gap in years of schooling between men and women is smaller in urban area compared to rural. In both rural and urban areas, the differences in education between men and women were smaller among the younger age group while it was higher for the older age groups. Probit model shows that the gender and location (urban/rural) area are significant determinants of schooling.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between the education levels of household heads and the poverty risk of households in Turkey. The logistic regression models have been estimated with the poverty risk of a household as a dependent variable and a set of educational levels as explanatory variables for all households. There are subgroups of households with female and male heads as well as that of different geographical regions. Other household characteristics, including gender, location of residence, employment status, age, and social allowances, have been used as control variables to capture individual heterogeneity. The data has been obtained from the Income and Living Conditions Survey (SILC) conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) for the year 2011. One of the main results is that, in general, there is a negative association between the probability of a household being poor and the education level of the household heads. It has also been found that the poverty risk of those households whose heads graduated from a vocational or technical high school is less than those who graduated from high school. However, when we focus on only female-headed households, the situation is reverse. Another prominent result is that gaining a vocational or technical high-school diploma takes precedence over graduating from a university with regard to the probability of a household falling below the poverty line in Istanbul and Southeast Anatolia contrary to other regions.

Introduction: The year 2015 marks the fourth year of a drought in California. With no signs of the drought improving, communities in California are left to prioritize their water usage. In the Central Valley, the limited water supply has forced farmers to prioritize on acreage and planting, decisions that trickle down and may impact farmworker families. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of a drought in California on family decision-making and coping strategies in the context of broader community changes affecting rural families of Mexican-origin. Methods: This study recruited participants from the Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (NSFS, Healthy Children, Healthy Family) childhood obesity intervention study, conducted from 2011-2015. The primary occupation of two-thirds of the NSFS families was agricultural work. Based on the US Department of Agriculture 18-item food security assessment tool, a baseline household survey among 336 families in 2012 revealed that 45% of the households were food insecure. In 2015, a bilingual graduate student moderated four focus groups in a convenience sample of 26 NSFS families, who were recruited by promotoras (local lay workers). Males and females were assigned to different focus group discussions, each of which lasted 1 ½ hours. Two researchers reviewed transcriptions of the audio recordings and analyzed them for emerging themes. Results/Conclusions: In this Mexican-origin rural population, households headed by less educated mothers, older fathers, and adults engaged in farm work were most vulnerable to food insecurity. The focus groups revealed community changes including out-migration of families, increased food prices, and changes in employment (fewer hours, less predictable, need to travel further to find work). These changes have led families to shift their family decision-making and economize to cope with the unpredictable nature of the agricultural workforce. Paying bills and rent takes priority over food, clothing, medicine and other expenses. All groups mentioned having to deny child requests and family outings. Women noted increased stress on the family and concern about keeping families together. Men expressed the desire to avoid disruption to their children's lives but were actively considering moving elsewhere. As a community, they have remained united and working together to withstand the challenges the drought has introduced.

Preschool programs have expanded rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, but there are widespread concerns about whether they are of sufficient quality to promote children's learning and development. We conducted a large school-randomized control trial ('Quality Preschool for Ghana' -- QP4G) of a one-year teacher training and coaching program, with and without parental-awareness meetings, designed to improve preschool quality and child development. We followed 3,435 children in 240 schools in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, a country with universal pre-primary education. A previous study reported positive impacts of teacher training (but not teacher training plus parental-awareness meetings) at the end of the implementation year on some dimensions of classroom quality, teacher well-being, and children's school readiness (Wolf et al., [2019] "Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness," 12, 10-37). The present study analyzed a new round of data collected 1 year after the end of implementation to assess (a) the extent of persistence in impacts on child development and (b) whether such impacts vary by select child, household, and school characteristics. We found impacts of the teacher training intervention on children's overall school readiness were sustained (d = 0.13), but were only marginally statistically significant. When broken down by domain, impacts on social-emotional skills specifically persisted. Persistent negative effects of teacher training plus parental-awareness meetings varied by the literacy status of the male parent such that negative impacts were concentrated in children in households with non-literate male heads.

Friendships and social participation are key domains of quality of life for individuals with intellectual disabilities. This study examined the friendships, social and recreational activities, and family social networks of individuals with intellectual disabilities from two distinct diagnostic groups: individuals diagnosed with fragile X syndrome (n = 81) compared with those diagnosed with autistic disorder (n = 226). Within each diagnostic group, individuals in two developmental stages were compared: adolescence and adulthood. Quality of life in friendships and social participation domains was notably low for individuals with fragile X and those with autism. Individuals with fragile X had more friendships and a less negative social impact on the family than individuals with autism. Across both groups, adolescents spent less time with friends and neighbors, and more time in exercising, than did adults.

This paper characterizes household spending in education using microdata from income and expenditure surveys for twelve Latin American and Caribbean countries and the United States. Bahamas, Chile, and Mexico have the highest household spending in education and Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay have the lowest. Tertiary education is the most important form of spending, and most educational spending is performed for 18- to 23-year-old individuals. More educated and wealthier household heads spend more in the education of household members. Households with both parents present and those with a female main income provider spend more than their counterparts. Urban households also spend more than rural households. On average, education in Latin America and the Caribbean is a luxury good, whereas it may be a necessity in the United States. No gender bias is found in primary education, but at secondary school age and up households invest more in females than in males.

The study examined the relationship between child labour participation and household wealth (in terms of livestock and cropland) considering representative sample smallholders from four (Kurfa Chelie, Kersa, Fedis, and Melka Bello) districts in eastern Hararghe Zone of Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. The descriptive statics showed that average family size was 5.45 individuals per household, which was larger than the national average (4.9) in 2016. In the study area, children with age interval of 4-14 years, that were the subject matter of this study, constituted 43.3% of the total population. Around 23% of sampled households spent less than 2471.22 Birr per annum per adult equivalent for home consumption, which is an amount based on the inflation adjusted poverty line. Households in Fedis district experienced the worst poverty head count score, wherein 44% of them could not satisfy the minimum living standard requirement. Double-hurdle model result revealed that livestock and cropland holding of smallholders significantly affect child labour participation in domestic work. This finding implies that household's asset ownership (possession of larger livestock and cropland) would not initiate children to budget more time for their education. The model result also showed that household head's education level significantly reduced children's domestic labour participation in the study area. Thus, this research recommended that there should be improvement in households' education and awareness level in the study area to improve child school enrolment. Finally, it is easy to say that the "Wealth Paradox" about child labour holds true for smallholders in eastern Ethiopia.

The purpose of this study was to comprehensively capture teachers' classroom experiences and establish what educational and psychological support would help them as they were trying to include learners from child-headed homes in their classrooms and schools. The sample of teachers from two different Gauteng districts included members from the school management and school-based support teams. Data were collected through individual and focus group interviews, in addition to collages made by the teachers, survey questionnaires in which they were respondents, observations of their practice and concomitant field notes. Firstly, the findings indicate that teachers are not always aware that learner's are orphans or head their own households. They do not know how to assist learners in coping with the effects of orphanhood, which include: increased learning difficulties, incomplete schoolwork, failure to participate, school absenteeism, hunger, concentration difficulties, signs of sexual abuse, and accelerated adulthood. The efforts of teachers to create supportive learning environments include; impartial treatment, learning support provision, accessing support services and meeting their learners' basic needs for food, clothing, love, belonging, reassurance, motivation and encouragement.

In South Africa, the educational attainment of African children has been a focal point of policy and research since the end of apartheid in 1994. Individual and policy-level determinants of child development and educational outcomes have been exhaustively investigated. A less researched perspective is the role of community and household composition on educational outcomes. The aim of this paper is to explore the socio-economic and demographic composition of communities and households that influence grade repetition among children in South Africa. The nationally representative South African General Household Survey of 2017 is analysed. The sample is children, 7-14 years old who have repeated a grade (N=529,624). Frequency distributions and multilevel modelling techniques are used to estimate the impact of household and community characteristics on child education outcomes. Results show that males (62.29%) and older children, 10-14 years old (61.27%), have higher grade repetition. In addition, children in female-headed households (54.57%) and poor households (61.13%) also have higher repetition rates. Finally, household poverty (OR: 1.617) and community poverty (OR: 1.944) are associated with increased likelihood of grade repetition. To ensure that South African children progress through school, the households and communities they are nested in require attention and intervention.

Using rural household survey data collected from 1000 female household heads selected from all the ten administrative regions in Ghana, this paper explored the policy implications for using ICTs for empowerment of rural women. A contingent valuation (CV) method was used to quantitatively estimate the influence of selected socio-economic factors on rural women's willingness to pay for alternative information delivery technologies. Even though the government sets the overall national ICT policy, the results from this study suggest some merit in allocating considerable authority to regional and local authorities in setting priorities and approaches to empowering rural women through the use of ICT. The study results also point to a need to cast rural empowerment policies and programs within the broader poverty reduction policies of the government and also within the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The results again indicate the need to formulate policies and programs to prevent duplication of efforts and critical "Political Will."