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The national solidarity program : assessing the effects of community-driven development in Afghanistan

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  • Beath,Andrew
  • Christia,Fotini
  • Enikolopov,Ruben

Abstract

Over the past two decades, community-based approaches to project delivery have become a popular means for governments and development agencies to improve the alignment of projects with the needs of rural communities and increase the participation of villagers in project design and implementation. This paper briefly summarizes the results of an impact evaluation of the National Solidarity Program, a community-driven development program in Afghanistan that created democratically elected community development councils and funded small-scale development projects. Using a randomized controlled trial across 500 villages, the evaluation finds that the National Solidarity Program had a positive effect on access to drinking water and electricity, acceptance of democratic processes, perceptions of economic wellbeing, and attitudes toward women. Effects on perceptions of local and national government performance and material economic outcomes were, however, more limited or short-lived.

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  • Beath,Andrew & Christia,Fotini & Enikolopov,Ruben, 2015. "The national solidarity program : assessing the effects of community-driven development in Afghanistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7415, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7415
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    1. King, Elisabeth & Samii, Cyrus, 2014. "Fast-Track Institution Building in Conflict-Affected Countries? Insights from Recent Field Experiments," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 740-754.
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    3. Beath, Andrew & Christia, Fotini & Enikolopov, Ruben, 2013. "Do elected councils improve governance ? experimental evidence on local institutions in Afghanistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6510, The World Bank.
    4. Beath, Andrew & Christia, Fotini & Enikolopov, Ruben, 2017. "Direct democracy and resource allocation: Experimental evidence from Afghanistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 199-213.
    5. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Utsumi, Yuji, 2022. "Armed conflict, education access, and community resilience: Evidence from the Afghanistan NRVA Survey 2005 and 2007," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Allison Carnegie & Kimberly Howe & Adam Lichtenheld & Dipali Mukhopadhyay, 2022. "The effects of foreign aid on rebel governance: Evidence from a large‐scale US aid program in Syria," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 41-66, March.
    4. Alexander De Juan & Carlo Koos & Miquel Pellicer & Eva Wegner, 2022. "Can reconstruction programmes improve political perceptions in conflict contexts? Evidence from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 90(4), pages 427-455, December.
    5. Patricia J. Rogers & Michael Woolcock, 2023. "Process and Implementation Evaluations: A Primer," CID Working Papers 433, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    6. Hakiman, Kamran & Sheely, Ryan, 2023. "Unlocking the Potential of Participatory Planning: How Flexible and Adaptive Governance Interventions Can Work in Practice," OSF Preprints kucjs, Center for Open Science.

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    Keywords

    Housing&Human Habitats; Poverty Monitoring&Analysis; Banks&Banking Reform; ICT Policy and Strategies; Governance Indicators;
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