The impact of contraceptive use and its outcomes on the change in school participation in 350 districts of 26 African countries, 1995-2010

Abiba L.P. Longwe, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Jeroen Smits, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

This paper analyzes the extent to which investments in FP services can lead to improvements in educational enrollment at the primary level in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). The major research question is: How is improvement in primary school enrollment of young children related to contraceptive usage and its outcomes at district level? This paper sets out to answer this question by analyzing district level panel data on 350 districts of 26 SSA countries. We find that a lower percentage of young children in the district and a decrease in the percentage of young children are associated with increasing primary enrollment rates. The analyses also revealed that a higher use of contraceptives and increasing use of contraceptives are associated with a decrease in the number of young children. Preliminary findings indicate that contraceptive use may help increasing educational participation at the district level by reducing the number of young children in the district.