Departnnent of Economics Working Paper Series Pitfalls of Participatory Programs : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Education in India

This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Pitfalls of participatory programs: evidence from a randomized evaluation in education in India, conducted in between September to December 2005 in India. The study observed that participation of beneficiaries in the monitoring of public services is increasingly seen as a key to improving their quality. None of the interventions improved the involvement in public schools, nor did they improve the school performance. This is despite the large mobilization of volunteers. Children who attended reading camps did exhibit significant progress (children who attended were 60 percent more likely to be able to decipher letters). Therefore, providing information on education and institutions is not sufficient to improve the public schools. Funding for the study derived from Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, DIME.

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