Pitfalls of Participatory Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Education in India
通过随机评估三种鼓励公民参与学校监督的干预措施，发现这些措施对社区参与、教师努力或校内学习成果无影响，但培训志愿者举办补习营显著提升了参与儿童的阅读能力。
Participation of beneficiaries in the monitoring of public services is increasingly seen as a key to improving their quality. We conducted a randomized evaluation of three interventions to encourage beneficiaries' participation to India: providing information on existing institutions, training community members in a testing tool for children, and training volunteers to hold remedial reading camps. These interventions had no impact on community involvement, teacher effort, or learning outcomes inside the school. However, in the third intervention, youth volunteered to teach camps, and children who attended substantially improved their reading skills. This suggests that citizens face constraints in influencing public services.