The Medium-Run Effects of an Adolescent Intervention to Promote Gender Equity: a Participatory Evaluation

This project seeks to examine the medium-run effects of a community-based programme in rural Rajasthan that targeted restrictive gender norms held by adolescent girls and others in their communities. To this end, the research team will conduct a follow-up of a three-armed randomised controlled trial covering 5,878 young women. The team will focus on the dynamic effects of the programme on work, livelihoods, time-use and bargaining power. The follow-up will also allow, for the first time, an assessment of meaningful impacts on age of marriage and final education. An interdisciplinary and participatory approach will be adopted in which the research team will be guided by young women in deciding what outcomes to consider, how to measure them and how to interpret the programme’s effects. The combination of detailed quantitative data and a randomised study design with extensive participation of young women will provide a rigorous and rich understanding of how the intervention impacted participants’ lives and capabilities.

Research team: Dr Sonya Krutikova, Institute for Fiscal Studies; Ms Pranita Achyut, International Center for Research on Women, India; Ms Hemlata Verma, International Centre for Research on Women, India