scholarly journals A qualitative evaluation of an integrated health and livelihood development project for marginalized communities in India

Author(s):  
Shantanu Sharma ◽  
Faiyaz Akhtar ◽  
Rajesh Kumar Singh ◽  
Sunil Mehra

Background: A community-based intervention was implemented to improve maternal, child, and adolescent health practices, promote financial literacy and enhance livelihood opportunities for young people in marginalized communities. A hypothesis related to our intervention was that peer-led education sessions on health and nutrition in conjunction with community mobilization would change communities’ perceptions towards maternal and child health.Design and methods: This three-year intervention was done in the two districts of Rajasthan, India, namely Nagaur and Pali. The paper explored the changes in perceptions and practices that resulted from this intervention among women and adolescents. We performed a retrospective, qualitative effect evaluation of the project. Focus group discussions with married women (15-49 years) and adolescents (10-19 years), and in-depth interviews with frontline workers and village health committees were done. The qualitative data were translated, coded, and analyzed thematically using an inductive approach.Results: Overall, 4853 women and 8158 adolescents were engaged in the intervention. The study seemed to have brought a change in some of the practices like postnatal care uptake, breastfeeding, and uptake of antenatal care among women, and enhanced awareness about sexual and reproductive health and harms of substance abuse among adolescents was noted. Around 23% and 67% of the young people from Nagaur and Pali, respectively, were linked with jobs in computer training centres, tailoring centres, and beauty parlours.Conclusions: The intervention was perceived successful in improving many health and nutrition practices and livelihood opportunities among project beneficiaries, calling for a comprehensive and multi-dimensional intervention to target social determinants of health.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shantanu Sharma ◽  
Faiyaz Akhtar ◽  
Rajesh Kumar Singh ◽  
Sunil Mehra

Abstract Background: Women from marginalized communities have poorer maternal health outcomes and limited utilization of health services compared to other communities. There is empirical evidence that comprehensively designed interventions targeting health education of women and social determinants of health, such as financial security, have better outcomes than focusing on health education alone. A community-based intervention was implemented to improve maternal, child, and adolescent health practices in marginalized communities. Besides, the project aimed to promote financial literacy and enhance livelihood opportunities for young people. This three-year peer-led intervention was done in the two districts of Rajasthan, namely Nagaur and Pali. The paper aimed at assessing the effectiveness of this community-based intervention. Methods: Pre-post study design based on qualitative research was used for the evaluation of the intervention. Purposive sampling was done both at baseline and the end-line assessments. Focus group discussions were done with women (15-49 years) and adolescents (10-19 years), and in-depth interviews with frontline workers and village health committees were done. Content analysis was done. Results: Overall, 4853 women, and 8158 adolescents were engaged in the intervention in two districts. We found a noticeable change in some of the practices like institutional delivery, breastfeeding, uptake of antenatal care among women, and knowledge about sexual and reproductive health among adolescents. Around 23% and 67% of the young people from Nagaur and Pali, respectively, were linked with jobs in computer training centers, tailoring centers, and beauty parlors. However, we found a lack of change in some of the indicators, such as knowledge about HIV testing during pregnancy, uptake of contraceptives, and iron-folic acid consumption among women. Early marriage was widely prevalent in the districts, the reduction of which was underachieved. In the interviews, frontline workers reported having been impartial and inclusive in delivering health services. Conclusions: We found evidence suggesting that peer-led interventions are equally effective in improving maternal and child health practices and livelihood promotion. The gaps at system-level, coupled with the presence of specific socio-cultural contextual factors might explain for lack of improvement in some of the indicators.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shantanu Sharma ◽  
Faiyaz Akhtar ◽  
Rajesh Kumar Singh ◽  
Sunil Mehra

Abstract Background Women from marginalized communities have poorer maternal health outcomes and limited utilization of health services compared to other communities. There is empirical evidence that comprehensively designed interventions targeting health education of women and social determinants of health, such as financial security, have better outcomes than focusing on health education alone. A community-based intervention was implemented to improve maternal, child, and adolescent health practices in marginalized communities. Besides, the project aimed to promote financial literacy and enhance livelihood opportunities for young people. This three-year peer-led intervention was done in the two districts of Rajasthan, namely Nagaur and Pali. The paper aimed at assessing the effectiveness of this community-based intervention.Methods Pre-post study design based on qualitative research was used for the evaluation of the intervention. Purposive sampling was done both at baseline and the end-line assessments. Focus group discussions were done with women (15-49 years) and adolescents (10-19 years), and in-depth interviews with frontline workers and village health committees were done. Content analysis was done.Results Overall, 4853 women, and 8158 adolescents were engaged in the intervention in two districts. We found a noticeable change in some of the practices like institutional delivery, breastfeeding, uptake of antenatal care among women, and knowledge about sexual and reproductive health among adolescents. Around 23% and 67% of the young people from Nagaur and Pali, respectively, were linked with jobs in computer training centers, tailoring centers, and beauty parlors. However, we found a lack of change in some of the indicators, such as knowledge about HIV testing during pregnancy, uptake of contraceptives, and iron-folic acid consumption among women. Early marriage was widely prevalent in the districts, the reduction of which was underachieved. In the interviews, frontline workers reported having been impartial and inclusive in delivering health services.Conclusions We found evidence suggesting that peer-led interventions are equally effective in improving maternal and child health practices and livelihood promotion. The gaps at system-level, coupled with the presence of specific socio-cultural contextual factors might explain for lack of improvement in some of the indicators.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Folke ◽  
Jovana Gjorgjiovska ◽  
Alessandro Paul ◽  
Lea Jakob ◽  
Kai Ruggeri

Young adults increasingly require good financial literacy to make the most of the opportunities provided to them. Unfortunately, existing financial literacy measures that may assist with targeting interventions show low reliability, ceiling effects, and a high level of abstraction. To address this, we designed and assessed the psychometric properties of a new measure specifically targeting young people, the Assessment of Economic and Financial Literacy (ASSET). We find it has better overall validity, reliability, and predictive power than existing measures. Using ASSET, we find that mathematical ability, calculator use (an example of deliberative thinking), gender, and socioeconomic status are key predictors of financial literacy. We recommend this more robust tool for use in financial literacy research to assess implications for guiding major financial decisions amongst young people.


ACC Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-103
Author(s):  
Justyna Kurczewska ◽  
Małgorzata Solarz

Author(s):  
Chuah Siew Mooi ◽  
Ann Nicole Nunis

This chapter focuses on the experience of volunteers and frontline workers who serve in marginalized communities across Southeast Asia. More frontline workers and volunteers are taking the initiative to support marginalized communities in the region. With the rise of human rights violations towards marginalized communities in the past decade, frontline workers and volunteers face unique experiences in working with these communities, ranging from stigma and discrimination to unaddressed levels of burnout. Based on the authors' experiences working with these communities and the summary of the interviews with fellow frontline workers, the experience of working with marginalized communities, particularly those affected by HIV/AIDS and refugees, are elaborated in this chapter. Current challenges as well as recommendations are highlighted to ensure that the frontline workers and volunteers are supported throughout their vital work towards society.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 160940691984675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Bailey ◽  
Valerie Steeves ◽  
Jacquelyn Burkell ◽  
Leslie Regan Shade ◽  
Rakhi Ruparelia ◽  
...  

This article evaluates a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach with mixed methods including concept mapping, q-sorting and deliberative dialogue in the context of a research project on young people’s experiences with digital communications technologies, and addresses some of the central insights of intersectionality theory and praxis. Our approach seeks to ensure that, insofar as possible, the gathered data provide a rich and layered window into the experiences of young people from a range of marginalized communities served by our project partners. The article revisits some key insights and contestations relating to intersectionality and addresses their relationship to our approach. We evaluate whether these methods enhance understandings of the interactions of structures of subordination with other factors identified in intersectionality scholarship, as well as the extent to which they centre the knowledge and expertise of those subordinated by matrices of domination as discussed by authors such as Crenshaw and Hill Collins. Our approach is just one of many that social science researchers interested in advancing intersectionality’s key insights could deploy. While it falls short of full consistency with these insights, its mixed methods work toward our partners’ social justice objectives while facilitating exploration of intersecting axes of subordination. Our approach can also help our project recapture the politic at the heart of many intersectional feminist critiques, such as those of Crenshaw and Hill Collins - that reconceptualizing knowledge requires centring the knowledge and expertise of those traditionally excluded due to interlocking systems of subordination.


e-Finanse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 106-118
Author(s):  
Karolina Palimąka

Abstract The article focuses on the phenomenon of financial literacy of students. Financial literacy is treated as a combination of financial knowledge and the decision-making process where one has to make a choice based on experience and theory. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the essence of financial literacy, including knowledge of banking (especially of young people). For this purpose, a literature review was used. Own research complements the topic as a case study, where the author verifies whether students assess their knowledge in a way that corresponds to reality and verifies whether students need to expand their financial knowledge sorely necessary nowadays. The survey was completed by 380 students from University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów, of both economic and non-economic field of studies. There are some unexpected results, for example the most important is that students from a financial field of studies end up with worse results than their peers from the non-financial degree programs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Liběna Kantnerová

This paper analyses the need to deal with the issue of financial literacy and financial knowledge not only by adults, but also by youth and young adults. This paper is focused on research into the knowledge and understanding of the financial literacy of young people, mostly between the ages of 16 to 33 years, via a questionnaire. The survey, undertaken in the Czech Republic, is based on a sample of 329 students from high schools and 329 students from the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice [658].


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