Evidence

Over 70 million women of reproductive age are undernourished in India. Most poverty alleviation programs have not been systematically evaluated to assess impact on women’s empowerment and nutrition outcomes.  National Rural Livelihoods Mission’s poverty alleviation and livelihoods generation initiative is an opportune platform to layer women’s nutrition interventions. This study presents a cross-sectional baseline survey covering 8755 mothers of children under-two years of age. It found that National Rural Livelihoods Mission operates in contexts with stark social and gender inequalities. Self-help group members exhibited better control on financial resources and participation in community activities than non-members. Based on the findings, this study proposes that layering women’s nutrition interventions as stipulated under Swabhimaan may yield better results for women’s  empowerment and nutrition status under NRLM. The findings of this study can be applied by implementers in other similar states as well. Click here to read the study.