Jeevika Livelihoods Project Phase 2 Evaluation (RCT), Bihar, India - Baseline and Endline Household And Village Data 2011-2014

Poverty and empowerment impacts of the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project: Evidence from a Mixed-Methods Cluster-Randomized Trial Jeevika is a World Bank assisted project focussed (now under the umbrella of the NRLM) on building networks of women's self-help credit and savings groups,and then using them as a base of other "vertical" interventions. This houshold and village survey data was collected over two rounds to conduct an impact evaluation of Phase 2 of the project with random assignment of the project over a two year period. Collaboration: World Bank Social Observatory team with Government of Bihar. Evaluation design, methods and implementation In order to evaluate the impacts of Jeevika, 180 panchayats were randomly selected from within 16 blocks in seven districts where scale-up of the project was planned but had not yet occurred. Some of these blocks were in districts relatively far from Patna, which had not yet been entered by the project (Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul), while others were within the larger districts within which Jeevika was already operating (Gaya, Nalanda, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur). The project had already entered these districts in Phase 1, but had not yet expanded to all blocks due to (project) capacity constraints. Within each of the study villages, hamlets (tolas) in which the majority of the population belonged to a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe were identified. This was the same procedure as used by Jeevika to identify the target population (of poor women) for mobilization into the project. Tolas were identified through a focus group discussion held in each village, along with the population of target castes (SC/STs) within each. In Bihar, tola boundaries are easily distinguishable. Field teams would enter the tola at a random point, determine the skip pattern based on the population size and target sample size, and select households through a random walk. Survey staff aimed to include 70% SC/ST households, and 30% households from other castes in each village, in order to ensure variation in socio-economic status within the sample. If the households in selected tolas included fewer SC/ST households than this, households from nearby non-SC/ST majority tolas were also included in the sample. Interviews for the quantitative study were conducted using a structured paper survey form. Baseline and follow up surveys included detailed questions on debt, asset holdings, consumption expenditures, livelihood activities, and women’s mob