Information and Facilitation Interventions for Accountability in Health and Nutrition: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in India

Community-based accountability interventions have shown promise in improving public service delivery in low-income countries. However, their effectiveness has varied across study settings and there is limited evidence on the relative importance of information provision versus facilitation of collective action. We study the health impacts of accountability interventions implemented in rural communities by the government of Uttar Pradesh, India. Using village-level randomization, we find no impacts on child mortality but large improvements in immunization rates, treatment of childhood diarrhea, and institutional delivery. Our findings suggest that information provision combined with facilitation had larger effects than information provision alone.

Keywords: Accountability, Community, Information, Facilitation, Monitoring, Health

JEL Classification: C93, D7, H4, I12, I18

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Mohanan, Manoj and Rajan, Vikram S. and Swanson, Kendal and Thirumurthy, Harsha, Information and Facilitation Interventions for Accountability in Health and Nutrition: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in India (December 31, 2020). Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID) Working Paper No. 295, February 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3544786 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3544786