Pitfalls of Participatory Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Education in India

• DOI: 10.1257/pol.2.1.1
• Publication Date: 2010-02-02T17:56:12Z
• Authors: Abhijit V Banerjee; Rukmini Banerji; Esther Duflo; Rachel Glennerster; Stuti Khemani
• Keywords: Remedial education

Participation of beneficiaries in the monitoring public services is increasingly seen as a key to improving their quality. We conducted randomized evaluation three interventions encourage beneficiaries' participation India: providing information on existing institutions, training community members testing tool for children, and volunteers hold remedial reading camps. These had no impact involvement, teacher effort, or learning outcomes inside school. However, third intervention, youth volunteered teach camps, children who attended substantially improved skills. This suggests that citizens face constraints influencing services. (JEL H52, I21, I28, O15)