There is a significant amount of literature documenting empirical linkages between socioeconomic status and mental health of individuals. While economic studies have found beneficial impacts of anti-poverty programs (e.g., micro-credit programs) on mental and emotional health, non-economic studies have documented the powerful roles of social capital in determining mental and emotional health. In this thesis, we study the impact of a large community-driven development (CDD) women's empowerment program, Jeevika, on mental health. JEEViKA is a rural livelihood program in Bihar, India, which promotes women's livelihood through a network of women's self-help group (SHG). Using data on a sample of 2300 SHG women from matched pairs of 66 high-exposure and low-exposure Jeevika villages, we estimate the causal impact of Jeevika on mental health. The results suggest that mental health improves with increasing age and among socially backward communities in high exposure JEEViKA villages. However, overall both the individual and village level analysis demonstrates no significant impact of JEEViKA on the mental health.

Zusammenfassung Die drei Essays dieser Dissertation leisten einen Beitrag zum Verständnis der politischen Ökonomie Indonesiens in Zeiten der Dezentralisierung. Vor dem Hintergrund des „Urban Poverty Project 2“ (UPP2), einem kommunalen Entwicklungsprojekt in Indonesien, untersucht der erste Essay empirisch die Rolle von „Elite Capture“. Auf Grundlage von Daten der Wirkungsuntersuchung von UPP2 sowie zusätzlichen administrativen Daten, wird der Zusammenhang zwischen einer ungleichen kommunalen Konsumverteilung und verstärktem „Elite Capture“ betrachtet. Dabei bestätigt sich der positive Zusammenhang zwischen kommunalen Ungleichheiten, welche sich in der Machtverteilung ausdrücken, und der Ressourcenallokation durch die gewählten Vertreter der lokalen Gemeinde. Insbesondere für die derzeit in Entwicklungsländern großflächig vorangetriebenen kommunengesteuerten Entwicklungsprogramme (CDD) ist dieses Ergebnis relevant. Es wird angeregt, dass politische Entscheidungsträger bestehende lokale Machtstrukturen verstärkt beachten sollten, um sicherzustellen, dass die durchgeführten Projekte tatsächlich die ärmere, benachteiligte Bevölkerung erreichen. Vor dem Hintergrund der Dezentralisierung in Indonesien untersucht der zweite Essay den Zusammenhang zwischen Bestechungsgeldern und der Wirksamkeit der Bereitstellung von öffentlichen Dienstleistungen. Die Studie prüft die Korruptionshypothese des „grease the wheels", nach der Bestechung als eine Methode der Beschleunigung von Verwaltung funktioniert. Anhand von Unternehmensdaten aus Indonesien wird gezeigt, dass Firmen, die höhere Bestechungsgelder zahlen, mehr Zeit mit Beamten verbringen. Letzteres wird als Proxy für Bürokratie verwendet. Diese Resultate widersprechen der obigen Hypothese und erweisen sich als robust auch nachdem für mögliche Kausalumkehrung kontrolliert sowie konkurrierende Bestechung unter asymmetrischer Information berücksichtigt wurde. Diese Resultate bestätigen damit die kontraproduktiven Effekte von Bestechung und unterstützen die Anti-Korruptionskampagnen, die von Regierungen und internationalen Organisationen durchgeführt werden. Der dritte Essay diskutiert die Rolle von Frauen als Entscheidungsträgerinnen im Kontext von UPP2. Erörtert wird, ob die Ressourcenallokation des Projektes stärker auf die Präferenzen von Frauen ausgerichtet sind, wenn mehr Frauen in lokalen Institutionen vertreten sind. Nach Prüfung des Medianwählermodells wird die Rolle von Genderzusammensetzungen in lokalen Vertretungen in Bezug auf die Veränderungen politischer Entscheidungen analysiert. Unter Verwendung von detaillierten Daten bezüglich ex-ante Präferenzen von Wählern sowie politischen Stellvertretern, kann geschlussfolgert werden, dass der weibliche Anteil in lokalen, politischen Institutionen keinen Einfluss auf politische Entscheidungen hat. Dennoch korreliert der Frauenanteil mit den Präferenzen der Medianwähler und denen von Wählerinnen, die mehr Aufmerksamkeit für öffentliche Hygiene fordern. Diese Ergebnisse lassen die Prognosen des Medianwählermodells anzweifeln.

yes / This study focuses on a widely promoted belief that community-driven and community-based interventions for development are not only cost-effective, but also just and democratic. In particular, this study examines community-based initiatives with regard to HIV/AIDS in one Tanzanian roadside town. The interventions I discuss suggest that increased community participation does not automatically lead to more equitable access to services, to the empowerment of the poor, or even to the planned service delivery at all. Dependence on local volunteers with multiple motives and interests can hamper the relationship between provider and beneficiary. A concern for minimal state involvement and maximum decentralisation can easily lead to institutional abandonment, and trust in an undefined `community¿ can prevent rather than encourage coordination at community-level. As I discuss below, such factors can result not only in a service not being delivered, but can also readily lead to increased local conflict over scarce resources, increasing unfulfilled expectations, affirmation of inequalities, and government neglect. In the absence of a strong institutional framework such as the state, community structures and social relationships ¿ unquantifiable and often particular to specific locations ¿ seem central to the functioning of community-based development interventions, including those of AIDS related prevention and care. / DfID

Electoral Rules and Leader Selection: Experimental Evidence from Ugandan Community Groups. Despite a large body of work documenting how electoral systems affect policy outcomes, less is known about their impact on leader selection. We study this by comparing two types of participatory decision making in Ugandan community groups: (i) vote by secret ballot and (ii) open discussion with consensus. Random assignment allows us to estimate the causal impact of the rules on leader types and social service delivery. Vote groups are found to elect leaders more similar to the average member while discussion group leaders are positively selected on socio-economic characteristics. Further, dropout rates are significantly higher in discussion groups, particularly for poorer members. After 3.5 years, vote groups are larger in size and their members save less and get smaller loans. We conclude that the secret ballot vote creates more inclusive groups while open discussion groups favor the already economically successful. Preparing for Genocide: Community Meetings in Rwanda. How do political elites prepare the civilian population for participation in violent conflict? We empirically investigate this question using data from the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Every Saturday before 1994, Rwandan villagers had to meet to work on community infrastructure. The practice was highly politicized and, according to anecdotal evidence, regularly used by the political elites for spreading propaganda in the years before the genocide. This paper presents the first quantitative evidence of this abuse of the community meetings. To establish causality, we exploit cross-sectional variation in meeting intensity induced by exogenous weather fluctuations. We find that an additional rainy Saturday resulted in a five percent lower civilian participation rate in genocide violence. Selection into Borrowing: Survey Evidence from Uganda. In this paper, I study how changes to the standard credit contract affect loan demand and selection into borrowing, using a representative sample of urban micro enterprises, most with no borrowing experience. Hypothetical loan demand questions are used to test whether firm owners respond to changes in loans' contractual terms and whether take-up varies by firms' risk type and other firm owner characteristics. The results indicate that contracts with lower interest rates and less stringent collateral requirements attract less risky borrowers, suggesting that there is scope for improvement of standard financial contract terms. Credit Contract Structure and Firm Growth: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial. We study the effects of credit contract structure on firm outcomes among small and medium sized firms. A randomized control trial was carried out to distinguish between some of the key constraints to efficient credit use connected to the firms' business environment and production function, namely (i) backloaded returns (ii) uncertain returns and (iii) indivisible fixed costs. Each firm was followed for the 1-year loan cycle. We describe the experiment and present preliminary results from the first 754 out of 2,340 firms to have completed the loan cycle. Firms offered a grace period have higher profits and higher household income than firms receiving a rebate later on as well as the control group. They also increased the number of paid employees  and reduced the number of unpaid employees, an effect also found among firms that received a cash subsidy at the beginning of the loan cycle. We discuss potential mechanisms behind these effects.

<p>This research aims to assess the role of Social Funds&rsquo / organizational and institutional characteristics for community participation processes in development projects. The research is based on a case study of the Peruvian Social Fund, FONCODES, and utilizes a qualitative data collection approach. It mainly relies on semi-structured interviews with FONCODES&rsquo / staff and community members, unstructured interviews with experts, and analysis of operational documents. The research concludes that several organizational and institutional characteristics affect community participation in FONCODES projects but the direction of this influence depends on how specific areas of the organization&rsquo / s context are structured as well as on political variables in the institutional environment.</p>

<p>This research aims to assess the role of Social Funds&rsquo / organizational and institutional characteristics for community participation processes in development projects. The research is based on a case study of the Peruvian Social Fund, FONCODES, and utilizes a qualitative data collection approach. It mainly relies on semi-structured interviews with FONCODES&rsquo / staff and community members, unstructured interviews with experts, and analysis of operational documents. The research concludes that several organizational and institutional characteristics affect community participation in FONCODES projects but the direction of this influence depends on how specific areas of the organization&rsquo / s context are structured as well as on political variables in the institutional environment.</p>

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This research aims to assess the role of Social Funds' organizational and institutional characteristics for community participation processes in development projects. The research is based on a case study of the Peruvian Social Fund, FONCODES, and utilizes a qualitative data collection approach. It mainly relies on semi-structured interviews with FONCODES' staff and community members, unstructured interviews with experts, and analysis of operational documents. The research concludes that several organizational and institutional characteristics affect community participation in FONCODES projects but the direction of this influence depends on how specific areas of the organization's context are structured as well as on political variables in the institutional environment. / South Africa

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

This thesis studies the effects of specific community- driven developer programmes run in Evaton West over the past three years (200011 to 200314) on poverty in the area. These programmes were targeted at poverty reduction and community development in Evaton West, driven by the Eindhoven municipality and COL~AP~A'@. The relationship between the Eindhoven Municipality and the Ernfuleni Municipality started as a result of the twinning of Tilburg and Eindhoven cities in the Netherlands with the erstwhile LekoaNaal Local Metropolitan Council. Evaton West was chosen as a pilot site for Eindhoven to run practical IDP programmes at, as an example of what can be achieved from properly run community-based programmes. COL~AP~Aw' as introduced to Evaton West by the Vaal University of Technology's Community Service department. Its programmes were aimed at poverty alleviation through small-scale business initiatives coupled with leadership training in the area. The approach in the thesis is to define poverty, measure it and determine the profile of the poor. This is done firstly employing household-level indicators and secondly employing community-level indicators. At household level, some of the following tools are used: the poverty line (HSL), headcount index, the poverty gap, dependency ratio, the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. Unemployment is also used to determine poverty levels. At community level, the thesis employs tools such as community characteristics, community assets, principal services, education, health and environmental issues. The thesis ends with specific recommendations. In particular, formation of co-operatives and the introduction of the basic income grant (BIG) are proposed. The thesis shows that compared to Bophelong, which is approximately similar to Evaton West in terms of age and composition of residents (especially based on age analysis), Evaton West is worse-off judging by poverty and welfare at household level. It proposes that one of the problems is Evaton West's geographical displacement. The thesis also shows that compared to three years ago, Evaton west is marginally better-off judging from the community indicators applied. It ascribed such improvement to the application of the above-stated community-driven development projects in Evaton West. Finally, the thesis suggests that one of the major solutions in dealing with poverty is to consider small-scale, home-based industries that allow for easy entry. Such projects can only succeed if they are approached in an integrated manner in which local authorities are fully involved. Labour absorption capacity of large industries is declining. This forces policy-making to be redirected to alternative sources of employment. The thesis contributes ways in which community-driven development programmes may be assessed at household and community levels. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.