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Women improving nutrition through self-help groups in India: Does nutrition information help?

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  • Kumar, Neha
  • Raghunathan, Kalyani
  • Quisumbing, Agnes
  • Scott, Samuel
  • Menon, Purnima
  • Thai, Giang
  • Gupta, Shivani
  • Nichols, Carly

Abstract

Women’s self-help groups (SHGs) are an important platform for reaching poor women in India. Despite SHGs' women-focused programming, evidence of the impact of SHG-based interventions on nutrition outcomes is limited, and most evaluations of nutrition interventions have not examined intermediate outcomes along the impact pathways or outcomes for women themselves. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of an integrated agriculture-nutrition intervention delivered through women’s SHGs in five states in central and eastern India. The interventions involved the delivery of nutrition behavior change communication to groups through participatory approaches, community engagement around key issues, and the strengthening of collective organizations. Our analysis is based on three rounds of rich panel data on close to 2700 rural women and their households from eight districts in these five states and qualitative work from an accompanying process evaluation. Using difference-in-difference models with nearest neighbor matching methods, we present results on women’s anthropometry and diet-related outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumar, Neha & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Quisumbing, Agnes & Scott, Samuel & Menon, Purnima & Thai, Giang & Gupta, Shivani & Nichols, Carly, 2024. "Women improving nutrition through self-help groups in India: Does nutrition information help?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:128:y:2024:i:c:s0306919224001271
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102716
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kalyani Raghunathan & Samyuktha Kannan & Agnes R. Quisumbing, 2019. "Can women's self‐help groups improve access to information, decision‐making, and agricultural practices? The Indian case," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(5), pages 567-580, September.
    2. Majumdar,Shruti & Rao,Vijayendra & Sanyal,Paromita, 2017. "On the frontlines of scaling-up : a qualitative analysis of implementation challenges in a CDD project in rural India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8039, The World Bank.
    3. Nichols, Carly, 2021. "Self-help groups as platforms for development: The role of social capital," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    4. Raghunathan, Kalyani & Kumar, Neha & Gupta, Shivani & Chauhan, Tarana & Kathuria, Ashi Kohli & Menon, Purnima, 2023. "Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    5. Nichols, Carly E., 2021. "Spaces for women: Rethinking behavior change communication in the context of women's groups and nutrition-sensitive agriculture," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    6. Alberto Abadie & David Drukker & Jane Leber Herr & Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Implementing matching estimators for average treatment effects in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(3), pages 290-311, September.
    7. Kumar, Neha & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Arrieta, Alejandra & Jilani, Amir & Pandey, Shinjini, 2021. "The power of the collective empowers women: Evidence from self-help groups in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
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