Power to the People: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment of a Community-Based Monitoring Project in Uganda

72 Pages Posted: 27 May 2008

See all articles by Martina Bjorkman Nyqvist

Martina Bjorkman Nyqvist

Stockholm School of Economics

Jakob Svensson

Stockholm University - Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 2007

Abstract

Strengthening the relationship of accountability between health service providers and citizens is by many people viewed as critical for improving access to and quality of health care. How this is to be achieved, and whether it works, however, remain open questions. This paper presents a randomized field experiment on increasing community-based monitoring. As communities began to more extensively monitor the provider, both the quality and quantity of health service provision improved. One year into the program, we find large increases in utilization, significant weight-for-age z-scores gains of infants, and markedly lower deaths among children. The findings on staff behaviour suggest that the improvements in quality and quantity of health service delivery resulted from an increased effort by the staff to serve the community. Overall, the results suggest that community monitoring can play an important role in improving service delivery when traditional top-down supervision is ineffective.

Keywords: Accountability, Field experiment, Health, Monitoring

JEL Classification: D78, I12, O15

Suggested Citation

Bjorkman Nyqvist, Martina and Svensson, Jakob, Power to the People: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment of a Community-Based Monitoring Project in Uganda (June 2007). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP6344, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1136670

Martina Bjorkman Nyqvist (Contact Author)

Stockholm School of Economics ( email )

PO Box 6501
Stockholm, 11383
Sweden

Jakob Svensson

Stockholm University - Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) ( email )

Stockholm, SE-10691
Sweden
+46 8 163 060 (Phone)
+46 8 161 443 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

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