In a meta-analysis spanning eight countries in South Asia, Kumar et al. (2018) looked at how women’s groups improve nutrition outcomes for women and children. They found that women’s groups have potential for improving maternal and child nutrition outcomes. It is not enough to just form the women’s groups without layering in contextually appropriate behavior change communication to improve health and nutrition awareness and knowledge. There were a number of null findings among the literature reviewed and the authors attributed that to a combination of program and implementation limitations.
Read MoreIn a two-year RCT, Miller et al. (2014) evaluated the effects of Heifer Nepal’s SHGs on child health and nutrition in six communities. They found that Heifer’s programming resulted in greater incremental improvement on height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ) z-scores for children under five years of age in the intervention group.
Read MoreDeininger and Liu (2012) used two rounds of surveys in 2004 and 2006 to examine the impact of SHGs on 2,517 households in Andhra Pradesh, India. They found that longer exposure to the state government’s District Poverty Initiatives Project (DPIP), which prominently figures SHGs, had a positive impact on nutritional intake, consumption and asset accumulation.
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