Enhancing Women’s Income and Household Nutrition Through Training in Small-Scale Fisheries Value Chains in Sub-Sahara Africa

Emmanuel Orkoh and Assem Abu Hatab

Journal of Development Studies, 2026, vol. 62, issue 3, 382-407

Abstract: This study uses inverse probability weighting and matching estimators to examine the impact of women’s training in small-scale fisheries value chain on their incomes, household food security, and dietary quality in four sub-Saharan countries. It further investigates pathways by which training influences households’ food consumption. The analysis reveals that households of trained women experience 8–9 percentage points higher food security and 3 percentage points better dietary quality compared to untrained counterparts. Additionally, trained women earn an average of USD 20–25 more than those without training. Cross-country analysis highlights variations in impact, with the strongest improvements in household food security observed in Sierra Leone and Tanzania, while dietary quality gains were most significant in Ghana and Malawi. Incomes of trained women were notably higher in Ghana (USD 31–44) and Malawi (USD 29–39), though results for Tanzania and Sierra Leone were not statistically significant. The study identifies increased fisheries-related income and household fish consumption as the key transmission channels of impact. These heterogenous findings underscore the need for gender-sensitive capacity-building programs that increase women’s participation in fisheries. Such programmes must be tailored to the specific dynamics of each country, including entrenched norms and barriers to women’s active involvement in the SSF sector.Training women in fisheries’ value chains improves their income and enhances their households’ food security and dietary quality.The extent of the effects of women’s training varies remarkably across the studied countriesTraining impacts households’ food security and dietary quality through increased fish consumption and improved income from SSF activities.

Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2025.2525855

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