Peer-reviewed articles, policy briefs, working papers, and opinion pieces on political economy, governance, and gender.
Showing 8 of 8 publications
Journal of Development Studies — 2024
A comparative analysis of how weak institutional coherence in post-conflict settings creates gendered economic exclusion, with case studies from Somalia and South Sudan. We find that fragmented governance structures disproportionately disadvantage women in land tenure, market access, and credit markets.
East African Policy Review — 2024
Evidence-based recommendations for governments and development partners on designing financial inclusion programs that address the specific constraints faced by women-led SMEs, including collateral gaps, digital literacy barriers, and regulatory hurdles.
Feminist Economics Quarterly — 2023
Proposes a revised framework for incorporating unpaid domestic and care labor into national accounting systems, with empirical estimates for three East African countries. The findings suggest that official GDP figures understate economic activity by 23-31%.
Institute for Development Economics Working Paper Series — 2023
An ethnographic and quantitative study of how women's savings cooperatives in Somalia use social capital as an alternative form of collateral, enabling credit access outside formal banking. We develop a novel 'social collateral' index with predictive power for loan repayment.
African Arguments — 2023
A widely-cited opinion piece arguing that governance reforms which ignore gendered power dynamics are destined to reproduce the very inequalities they claim to solve. Drawing on fieldwork in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
Public Administration & Development — 2022
Evaluates the impact of decentralization policies on health and education service delivery, finding significant heterogeneity in outcomes based on local institutional capacity. Districts with stronger pre-existing social capital saw 40% better service outcomes.
UNDP Somalia Policy Brief — 2022
Analyzes the intersection of customary law (xeer), Sharia, and statutory law in Somalia regarding women's land and property rights, and proposes a hybrid governance model that respects tradition while expanding equity.
FSD Kenya Working Paper — 2021
Uses survey data from 2,400 households to identify the digital, financial, and social barriers that prevent rural women from adopting mobile money platforms. Phone ownership and digital literacy emerge as binding constraints.