What We Can Learn When Impacts Fail to Replicate: Lessons From an Empowerment Programme for Young Women in Tanzania

We evaluate the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents programme that combines life and livelihood skills trainings with a safe space where young women can network and learn. The same multifaceted intervention was highly effective in raising adolescent girls’ economic and social empowerment when implemented in Uganda. In contrast, this randomised evaluation, using panel data on more than 3100 adolescents, finds no programme impact on any economic, health, or social outcomes in Tanzania. We propose implementation quality as one plausible explanation of why the programme’s effectiveness could not be successfully replicated in Tanzania.