81392 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database Measuring the Effect of a Community-level Program on Women's Empowerment Outcomes: Evidence from India Author(s) Eeshani Kandpal, Kathy Baylis, Mary Arends-Kuenning Contact ekandpal@worldbank.org Country India Organizing Theme Voice and Agency Status The Evaluation is Complete but the project is ongoing Intervention Category Community Development Sector Social Development This paper uses primary data from rural north India to show that participation in a community-level female empowerment program significantly increases access to employment, physical mobility, and political participation. The program provides support groups, literacy camps, adult education classes, and vocational training for rural women in several states of India; the data are from Uttarakhand. The paper uses instrumental Abstract variables and truncation-corrected matching on primary data to disentangle the program's mechanisms, separately considering its effect on women who work, and those who do not work but whose reservation wage is increased by participation. The analysis also finds significant spillover effects on non-participants relative to women in untreated districts. It finds consistent estimates for average treatment and intent to treat effects Gender Connection Gender Focused Intervention Female labor force participation, intrahousehold bargaining, participation or voice in Gender Outcomes community; sexual abuse or harassment IE Design Instrumental Variable The program provides bi-weekly literacy camps, adult education classes and weekly vocational training. It also creates support groups on issues such as domestic violence and alcoholism. The objective of the program is to increase the empowerment of women. Intervention During the program, women were encouraged to participate in local politics, discussed the value of having a female child, and were provided support on issues like domestic violence, alcoholism, dowry and infanticide. Intervention Period 1988-Present The sample is comprised of 487 Uttarakhandi women from 69 villages in six Uttarakhand Sample population districts, four with the program and two without. Comparison conditions Districts with no program Unit of analysis Individual level Evaluation Period Not discussed Last updated: 14 August 2013 1 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database The authors find a positive and significant treatment effect of the program on women's empowerment outcomes; participants are more likely to have access to outside employment, are have a 17 p.p. increase probability of having the ability to leave the house Results without permission and are 33% more likely to attend village council meetings. Even women who do not benefit from enhanced employment experience a greater ability to travel outside the home. The program may be placed in districts and villages that are inherently different from those Primary study limitations without the program. Women who participate in the program may be systematically different than those who do not participate. Spanish Impact Evaluation Fund, the Goodman Fellowship, the Due Ferber International Funding Source Research Award, The College of ACES AYRE Fellowship, the Survey Research Laboratory Seymour Sudman Dissertation Award, and the Arnold Beckman award. Kandpal, E., Baylis, K., & Arends-Kuenning, M. (2013). Measuring the effect of a Reference(s) community-level program on women's empowerment outcomes: evidence from India. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (6399). Link to Studies http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2245476 Microdata Last updated: 14 August 2013 2