AERC Working Paper Series 2025

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Women’s Access to Land and Children’s Nutritional Outcomes in Rural Burkina Faso
(AERC, 2025) Kponou, Monsoi Kenneth Colombiano; Nikiema, Pouirkèta Rita
Across developing countries, women play an important role both as producers of major food crops and in improving household nutrition. This research uses data from the country's first Living Standards Measurement Survey to assess the effect of enhancing women’s empowerment on the nutritional outcomes of children in rural Burkina Faso. The results revealed a low baseline level of women’s empowerment in rural areas, but empowerment was positively correlated with children’s nutritional outcomes. This result regarding empowerment warrants further investigation into the components that most significantly affect children’s nutritional status. In this regard, access to land has been identified as a crucial factor in women’s empowerment. To leverage land access, we analyze its effect on children’s nutritional outcomes. Our results suggest that access to land is positively correlated with long-term nutritional status. The study suggests that improving women’s access to land will translate into significant gains in children’s nutritional outcomes in rural households.