Please join us for the Change Seminar next week Tuesday 12/4/2018 in JHN 111.
Who: Dr. Tara Patricia Cookson
What: Unjust Conditions: Women’s Work and the Hidden Cost of Cash Transfer Programs
When: Tuesday, Dec 4th, 12-1pm
Where: Johnson Hall 111
Abstract Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are praised as efficient mechanisms for changing poor people’s health and education seeking behavior, and promoting financial inclusion. Yet behind the good intentions, CCT programs’ successes ring hollow, based solely on metrics for children’s attendance at school and health appointments. This talk presents ethnographic findings from a new book on the World Bank's "model" CCT program in Peru. In looking beyond routine program evaluations, it reveals a host of hidden costs for the mothers who meet the conditions, and will provide pragmatic recommendations for research and policy.
Bio Dr. Tara Patricia Cookson is Co-Founder and Director of Ladysmith, a Social Purpose Corporation that provides research services for international development organizations including UN Women, UNICEF, and the OECD. She is author of Unjust Conditions: Women’s Work and the Hidden Cost of Cash Transfer Programs, which is based on her PhD research at the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. In 2014 she received the Bill Gates Sr Prize for founding a leadership program for early career researchers called Learning for Purpose. Tara is currently a SSHRC Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia, and is a Seattle Women’s Commissioner.