Address: Museum Building, Trinity College, Dublin
E-mail: tbedi@tcd.ie
Citizenship: Ireland & USA
Research Focus: Economic Development, Applied Microeconomics, Household Behaviour, Gender, Social Protection, Well-Being, Climate Adaptation, Social Norms, Financial Inclusion, Labour Markets, Accountability, Donations
University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD)
Department of Geography Dublin, Ireland
Assistant Professor in
Development Practice, Since 2024
University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD)
Dublin, Ireland
Ph.D. Development Economics, 2013 - 2018
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Cambridge,
USA
Master of Public Administration in International
Development, 2002 - 2004
Core subjects: Analysing politics for
policy, human rights and international politics, good governance and
democratisation, legal, social and political institutions in
development, resource contes- tation, development policy analysis &
design, advanced micro and macro economics, econometrics
Lewis & Clark College, Economics
Department
Portland, USA
BA in Economics
with Honours, 1996 - 2000
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland
*
Module Coordinator & Lecturer, Theories of Development, Masters in
Development Practice, 2024
* Module Coordinator & Lecturer,
Dissertation & Work Placement, Masters in Development Practice, 2024
* Module Coordinator & Lecturer, Dissertation & Gender and
Development, Masters in Development Practice, 2023-2024
* Module
Coordinator & Lecturer, Impact Measurement, Masters in Development
Practice, 2018 - 2024
* Lecturer, Survey Design and Qualitative
Evaluation Methods, Trinity IMpact Evaluation (TIME) Online Course on
Impact Evaluation, 2021 - 2024
* Supervision of 16 master
dissertations, Masters in Development Practice, 2021 - 2024
*
Teaching Assistant, Microeconomics (2nd year), Department of Economics,
2016 - 2017
* Lecturer, Economics of Less Developed Countries (3rd
year), Department of Economics, 2015 - 2016
* Teaching Assistant,
Introduction to Economic Policy (1st year), Department of Economics,
2013 - 2014
RANDOMISED CONTROL TRIALS
Mental Well-Being and School-Related Gender Based Violence, Evidence from Zambia: Using a randomised control trial (RCT), with randomisation at the school level, this study will evaluate the impact of the empowerment programme on adolescent girls’ knowledge of school related gender based violence (SRGBV); attitudes and norms around gender roles, corporal punishment, bullying, sexual violence, and response to SRGBV; socio-emotional skills; mental health and social support. Data will be collected from approximately 3,000 adolescent girls and their teachers/peers/caregivers across three districts in Zambia. Affiliated authors and institutions: Tara Bedi, Wei Chang, Menaal Ebrahim, Anu Jose, Michael King, and Sophia Friedson-Ridenour. Trinity College Dublin, Africa Gender Innovation Lab World Bank.
Gender, Social Norms and the Mauritania Social Transfer
Programme: Designed, secured funding and implemented a RCT on
understanding the impact of gender social norms interventions. The RCT
tests the effect of adding a) couples empowerment training and b)
community interventions to a cash transfer programme on female
empowerment, spousal cohesion and welfare outcomes. Affiliated authors
and institutions: Tara Bedi, Claire Boxho, Michael King and Julia
Vaillant. Trinity College Dublin and Africa Gender Innovation Lab World
Bank
Research website: https://www.tcd.ie/time/research/social-protection/gender_mauritania/
Gender impacts from the Graduation Programme in Malawi:
Designed, secured funding and implemented a randomised control trial
(RCT), which studies the impact of varying the gender of the recipient
of an anti-poverty programme and a gender empowerment training on
intrahousehold bargaining power, well-being, and household poverty.
Affiliated authors and institutions: Tara Bedi, Michael King, and Julia
Vaillant. Trinity College Dublin, Africa Gender Innovation Lab World
Bank.
Research website: https://www.tcd.ie/time/research/malawigraduation/
LAB EXPERIMENTS
MIXED METHODS
Female Empowerment and Well Being: Designed a mixed methods evaluation that incorporates a qualitative study along side the RCT on the gender focused multifaceted anti-poverty, ‘graduation’, programme in Malawi. The objective of this research is to enable a deeper understanding of participants’ own interpretation of the programme’s impact on their empowerment and household relations. The qualitative component involved two rounds of the Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP), a method for mapping causal drivers of change from the perspective of female participants, where the qualitative researchers are partially ‘blindfolded’ to reduce pro-project and confirmation bias. The RCT comprised ‘before’ and ‘after’ surveys, separated by 24 months, of both spouses. Affiliated authors and institutions:} Rebekah Avard, Tara Bedi, James Copestake, and Michael King. Trinity College Dublin, University of Bath.
Gender Norms and the Mauritania Social Transfer Program: Designed and secured funding for a qualitative research project on a cash transfer combined with gender norms programming to study 1) the role of complementary programming and the 2) mechanisms underlying the impact of cash transfers on intimate partner violence.The research team will examine the mechanisms of impact and how they vary across different versions of the gender norms programme. This will include investigation of changes at the household level and the possibility of socially transformative changes. The study will use a combination of Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP) interviews at the household level, Focus Group Discussions (FDGs) and observational ethnographic research within communities. Affiliated authors and institutions:} Tara Bedi, Claire Boxho, James Copestake, Michael King, Rachael Pierotti, Fiona Remnant and Julia Vaillant. Trinity College Dublin and Africa Gender Innovation Lab World Bank, University of Bath.
OTHER PROJECTS
Weather Shocks, Poverty and Well-being in Malawi: In this project, we look at the impact of Cyclone Idai in Malawi on household welfare, well-being and gender dynamics. Affiliated authors and institutions: Tara Bedi, Michael King, Ilan Noy, and Julia Vaillant. Trinity College Dublin, Africa Gender Innovation Lab World Bank and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
The Contrasting Profile of Spousal Mental Well-being In Africa, Evidence from Malawi: Making use of a detailed panel survey data from Malawi, this research will focus on whether spouses in poor households of rural Malawi differ in their mental health status. Our measures include GAD, self-efficacy, and an index of depression/stress/life satisfaction. The paper will investigate potential correlates, including social norms, that may explain any differentials between the mental health of men and women. Affiliated authors and institutions: Tara Bedi, Anu Jose and Michael King. Trinity College Dublin.
Impact of Natural Disasters on Mental Well-being and Bandwidth, Evidence from Malawi: Using a household-level panel survey from Malawi containing a detailed mental well-being module for couples and information related to cyclone Idai and its associated flooding, we investigate the effect of the disaster on the self-efficacy of individuals. As almost all individuals reported being affected by the flood, we define a shock threshold to compare those most severely affected and those less so. To overcome reporting bias in relation to flooding damages, and the possibility that the level of damage might be correlated with unobservables that also affect mental well-being, we combine the household panel data with geospatial data on rainfall and proximity to the nearest river. Contributing to the literature on gender differential effects of disasters and shocks, we estimate the effects of the cyclone by gender. Building on the existing evidence related to the importance of aspirations and efforts in post-disaster recovery, this study analyses spousal self-efficacy post-disaster. Our intrahousehold comparison allows us to examine the gender-specific tools required for mitigating disaster impacts among couples. Affiliated authors and institutions: Tara Bedi, Michael King and Samuel McArdle. Trinity College Dublin, IGEES.
Exploring Intra-Household Gender Differences in Reporting Exposure to Shocks: Poor households are more susceptible to face negative shocks, which may undermine development and anti-poverty interventions. Yet, in attempting to understand households’ exposure to shocks, it might be imperative to consider the gender of the respondent when utilising survey-based measures. A growing body of literature is exposing intra-household gender differences in survey reporting of various socio-economic measures, even those seemingly objective. This paper contributes by adding a ``shock’’dimension to this literature. Using survey data that captures household shock reports by both the male and female spouse within a household in rural Malawi, the paper aims to establish whether men and women report household shocks differently. Moreover, it seeks to explore possible mechanisms that correlate with spousal concordance, and whether concordance can be associated with women’s wellbeing outcomes. The results of this paper will make valuable contributions to research using survey-based measures to study household shocks. For instance, if systematic differences are detected, reliance on responses from only one spouse might entail biases which should be carefully considered when targeting, or evaluating the impact of, development interventions based on these measures. Affiliated authors and institutions: Nouf Abushehab, Tara Bedi, and Michael King. Trinity College Dublin.
University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD)
Department of Economics Dublin, Ireland
Research Fellow, 2021-2023
MSCActions Research Fellow, 2017-2020
UNU-WIDER, Dublin, Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
Short-term consultant, 2017
World Bank, Dublin, Ireland
Short-term
Consultant, Summer 2013
Trócaire, Maynooth, Ireland
Policy
Officer, 2011 - 2013
Policy & Research Coordinator, 2008 - 2011
Research Officer on Food Security, Livelihoods & Environmental Justice Team, 2007 - 2008
World Bank, Poverty Reduction & Economic Management
(PREM), Washington DC, USA
Junior Professional
Associate, 2004 - 2006
Poverty Analysis, Monitoring &
Impact Evaluations team in the Poverty Reduction Group
Immigrant and Refugee Community Organisation (IRCO)
), Portland, USA
Programme Coordinator of
Volunteers, 2001 - 2002
Non-profit refugee resettlement
service organisation