Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India

In response to the problems of high coordination costs among the poor, efforts are underway in many countries to organize the poor through “self-help groups” (SHGs)—membership-based organizations that aim to promote social cohesion through a mixture of education, access to finance, and linkages to w...

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Main Authors:	Desai, Raj M., Joshi, Shareen
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	en_US
Published:	Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2016
Subjects:	access to finance community affairs community development cooperatives credit markets financial markets labor markets property rights social empowerment villages financial training
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24195

id	okr-10986-24195
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-241952021-04-23T14:04:20Z Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India Desai, Raj M. Joshi, Shareen access to finance community affairs community development cooperatives credit markets financial markets labor markets property rights social empowerment villages financial training In response to the problems of high coordination costs among the poor, efforts are underway in many countries to organize the poor through “self-help groups” (SHGs)—membership-based organizations that aim to promote social cohesion through a mixture of education, access to finance, and linkages to wider development programs. We randomly selected villages in one of the poorest districts in rural India in which to establish SHGs for women. Two years of exposure to these programs increased women's participation in group savings programs as well as the non-agricultural labor force. Compared to women in control villages, treated women were also more likely to participate in household decisions and engage in civic activities. We find no evidence however, that participation increased income or had a disproportionate impact on women's socio-economic status. These results are important in light of the recent effort to expand official support to SHGs under India's National Rural Livelihood Mission. 2016-05-03T21:55:22Z 2016-05-03T21:55:22Z 2014-10-02 Journal Article World Bank Economic Review 1564-698X http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24195 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research India
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	access to finance community affairs community development cooperatives credit markets financial markets labor markets property rights social empowerment villages financial training
spellingShingle	access to finance community affairs community development cooperatives credit markets financial markets labor markets property rights social empowerment villages financial training Desai, Raj M. Joshi, Shareen Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India
geographic_facet	India
description	In response to the problems of high coordination costs among the poor, efforts are underway in many countries to organize the poor through “self-help groups” (SHGs)—membership-based organizations that aim to promote social cohesion through a mixture of education, access to finance, and linkages to wider development programs. We randomly selected villages in one of the poorest districts in rural India in which to establish SHGs for women. Two years of exposure to these programs increased women's participation in group savings programs as well as the non-agricultural labor force. Compared to women in control villages, treated women were also more likely to participate in household decisions and engage in civic activities. We find no evidence however, that participation increased income or had a disproportionate impact on women's socio-economic status. These results are important in light of the recent effort to expand official support to SHGs under India's National Rural Livelihood Mission.
format	Journal Article
author	Desai, Raj M. Joshi, Shareen
author_facet	Desai, Raj M. Joshi, Shareen
author_sort	Desai, Raj M.
title	Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India
title_short	Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India
title_full	Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India
title_fullStr	Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India
title_full_unstemmed	Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India
title_sort	collective action and community development : evidence from self-help groups in rural india
publisher	Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate	2016
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24195
_version_	1764455902244503552

Collective Action and Community Development : Evidence from Self-Help Groups in Rural India

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