Empowering women’s entrepreneurship: an evidence synthesis of policy and practice in developing countries
综合评估证据，分析发展中国家促进女性创业的小额金融和商业培训项目为何效果不一，发现初始资本不足，而促进资本转化的机制（如自我发展、集体行动）是关键，为政策设计提供洞见。
Evaluations of microfinance and business training programmes that intend to stimulate women’s entrepreneurship, empowerment, and poverty alleviation report a mixed impact, yet theoretical explanations for this conundrum are missing from existing literature. To better understand the various impacts of these specific types of policy intervention, this paper uses a realist synthesis of evaluation evidence to analyse how these programmes work. Guided by an entrepreneurial capital framework, our results highlight that initial programme capital alone (either financial or human) is rarely enough to generate sustained positive impact. Rather, we found that programmes with specific features which facilitate the conversion of economic, human, social, and symbolic capital are key to local economic and social empowerment. Our results highlight five mechanisms which facilitate capital conversion (self-development, collective agency, structuring, resource exchange, psychological membership) and two barriers which restrict it (power relations, resource dispersion). Overall, we contribute to a deeper understanding of women’s empowerment through the design and delivery of women’s enterprise policy programmes.