In March 2022, I was able to return to Kenya to resume my dissertation research. It was wonderful to be back after two years away and to see and work with Kenyan colleagues in person again. I spent part of the time conducting follow-up interviews with sexual and reproductive health NGOs in Kisumu and part of the time preparing to conduct a survey in Migori County later this year. My qualitative work began in February 2020 when I was last in Kenya. I met with several Kisumu-based sexual and reproductive health NGOs to learn about how the US’s global gag rule had impacted their operations, relationships with donors, and relationships with other NGOs. When the pandemic hit and Kenya experienced lockdowns, I along with my undergraduate research assistants Ema Kuczura and Sarah Hubner, conducted semi-structured interviews over zoom with roughly 35 NGOs to understand how they were responding to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including increased demand for their services,...

The empowerment of women and girls in low and middle-income countries has long been recognized as a cornerstone of sustainable development. Yet despite billions in foreign aid spent on development projects annually, the international community is falling short on meeting the sustainable development goal (SDG) to achieve gender equality. The gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have provided further setbacks for women. However, incorporating mechanisms aimed at increasing women’s empowerment into existing and future development projects is one potential solution to close the gender gap. Indeed, interdependencies of the SDGs can encourage positive spillovers or downstream effects; efforts targeted at one SDG can also impact another. Following this assumption, it is possible for interventions aimed at SDG 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) to, for example, impact SDG 5 (achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls). My dissertation project leverages these interdependencies and exploits an external health intervention targeted at women...