Ravaged landscapes and climate vulnerability: The challenge in achieving food security and nutrition in post-conflict Timor-Leste

Food insecurity and malnutrition are prevalent in post-conflict countries. Climate change poses further challenges to their food production. Timor-Leste is an agrarian society that won independence in 2002 and is struggling to achieve food security and reduce undernutrition as the country modernizes. The economy depends on fossil fuel revenues and oil reserves are dwindling. A review of climate, agricultural, and nutrition data reveals high weather vulnerability, low agricultural productivity, and slow dietary and nutritional progress. But solutions exist. Agricultural sector actions can make important contributions to poverty reduction, food security, dietary diversity, micronutrient sufficiency, and overall nutrition. Agriculture can be made to be more nutrition- and gender-sensitive with a focus on mixed farming systems, biodiversity, climate-smart practices, and access to inputs, training, and technologies for farmers to enable sustainable and healthy rural livelihoods. Ultimately, productivity levels must improve to support the availability of sufficient and nutritious foods

Essays on gender, development and human capital investment

This dissertation comprises three chapters on the intersection between gender, development and human capital investments. The first chapter explores the impact of the rapid expansion of the Cambodian garment industry on women’s and children’s well being. It documents a sizeable increase in schooling at early ages, but also increased secondary dropouts. It also demonstrates that the growth of garment manufacturing is associated with delays in marriage and childbearing, and potentially long-lasting improvements in girls’ height. The second chapter uses a natural experiment from an Australian state and shows that relaxing compulsory mathematics and science requirements widens the gender gap in high-school STEM subject uptake. It also documents a positive externality from compulsory mathematics requirements on the uptake of science subjects, which is consistent with a setting in which it is costly to study science without any mathematics. The third chapter presents evidence that the growth of private primary schooling may have negative implications for equality in educational opportunities and learning outcomes in rural India.Esta disertación comprende tres capítulos sobre la intersección entre género, desarrollo e inversiones en capital humano. El primer capítulo explora el impacto de la rápida expansión de la industria de la confección de Camboya en el bienestar de las mujeres y los niños. Documenta un aumento considerable de la escolarización a edades tempranas, pero también un aumento de la deserción en la secundaria. También demuestra que el crecimiento de la fabricación de prendas de vestir está asociado con retrasos en el matrimonio y la maternidad y mejoras potencialmen- te duraderas en la altura de las niñas. El segundo capítulo utiliza un experimento natural de un estado australiano y muestra que la relajación de los requisitos obligatorios de matemáticas y ciencias ampíıa la brecha de género en la captacióin de materias STEM en la escuela secundaria. También documenta una externalidad positiva de los requisitos matemáticos obligatorios en la adopción de asignaturas de ciencias, lo cual es consistente con un entorno en el que es costoso estudiar ciencias sin matemáticas. El tercer capítulo presenta evidencia del crecimiento de la educación primaria privada que puede tener implicaciones negativas para la igualdad en las oportunidades educativas y los resultados del aprendizaje en la India rural