81365 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database How to Promote Order and Property Rights Under Weak Rule of Law? An Experiment in Changing Dispute Resolution Behavior Through Community Education Author(s) Christopher Blattman, Alexandra Hartman, Robert Blair Contact chrisblattman@columbia.edu Country Liberia Organizing Voice and Agency Theme Status Midline Data Analyzed Intervention Conflict Resolution Category Sector Social Development Dispute resolution institutions help reach agreements and preserve the peace whenever property rights are imperfect. In weak states, strengthening formal institutions can take decades, and so state and aid interventions also try to shape informal practices and norms governing disputes. Their goal is to improve bargaining and commitment, thus limiting disputes and violence. Mass education campaigns to promote alternative dispute resolution (ADR) are common examples. We study short-term impacts of one campaign Abstract in Liberia, where property disputes are endemic. From 246 towns, 86 were randomly provided training in ADR practices and norms, training 15% of adults. One year later, treated towns have higher resolution of land disputes and lower violence. Impacts spill over to untrained residents. We also see unintended consequences: more disagreements (mostly peaceful) and more extrajudicial punishment. Results imply mass education can change high-stakes behaviors, and improving informal bargaining and enforcement behavior can promote order in weak states. Gender Gender Informed Analysis Connection Gender Participation or voice in community Outcomes IE Design Clustered Randomized Control Trial (Clustered at community level) In 2009-2010 the UN directed the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and a NGO, the Justice and Peace Commission, to run an ADR campaign in rural Liberian communities. In treated communities, the NGO mobilized roughly 15% of adults to attend workshops. Each workshop involved eight days of Intervention training in groups of about 35 residents. The training was designed to strengthen existing and longstanding processes but also attempted to encourage and empower ordinary residents to better negotiate their own disputes or mediate for their neighbors. Intervention 2009-2010; training lasted 8 days Period The intervention targeted 3 of Liberias 15 counties that were denser and more war-affected. Country officials nominated 246 communities ranging from 100 to 5000 persons. Many communities had prior Sample exposure to ideas underlying the intervention. The study surveyed a random sample of 20 residents per population community at baseline and endline. An elder, and influential person and a troublemaker were also interviewed. Comparison 85 communities were assigned to the treatment. The study also randomly assigned communities to one of 5 conditions phases 3 months apart. The control group has 160 communities Last updated: 14 August 2013 1 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database Unit of Community Level analysis Evaluation The endline survey occurs 10 months after the adoption of the program. Period In treated communities, land disputes are 29% less likely to remain unsolved at the end of the year and 32% less likely to result in property destruction. Disputants are 10% more satisfied with the outcomes. These effects are strongest among the most longstanding disputes. There are unintended consequences. There are Results large increases in informal extrajudicial punishment, and increases in fights, youth-elder disputes, and demonstration. These are mostly non-violent, and violent conflict decreases, but not in a statistically significant way. There is a non-significant positive impact on attitudes towards women's and minority rights. Primary study This study did not directly test the mechanism through which behavior changed. limitations Funding The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund in Liberia, Humanity United, Yale University and, The World Source Bank's Italian Children and Youth Trust Fund Blattman, C., Hartman, A., Blair, R., (2013) How to promote order and property rights under weak rule of Reference(s) law? An experiment in changing dispute resolution behavior through community education" Link to http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/fordcenter/events/documents/BlattmanHartmanBlair%20- Studies %20Mar2013%20Revision[1].pdf Microdata Last updated: 14 August 2013 2